The new Ranger
by magicshadow1
Summary: Mark used to have a normal life with his family and his friends, well, that is until he and his sister are found in the forest by a ranger we all know and love. He is sent out on his first mission with the legendary Halt and Will and his friend Kyle, and things are far harder than what he had expected. Will his past catch up with him? And what will he choose to do by the end of it?
1. Chapter 1

Will and Halt were in silence as they sat on their horses riding back towards Redmont. What they had seen was horrible and not something they wanted to talk about. They had travelled to Celtica to investigate rumours that had been travelling round Araluen about a group of bandits. The bandits had been attacking villages taking everything the village had and then disappearing again only to pop up again a month or so later and do it all again to another unsuspecting village. The bandits had been travelling through Celtica and had got very close to the border leading into Araluen. Crowley had decided to send two rangers out to investigate and to find out about the bandits so they knew all they could in case they decided to come into Araluen. Will sat on Tug deep in thought about what he had seen.

They had walked into the village and Will had suddenly gone very cold. Everywhere he looked there were corpses on the floor where the bandits had slaughtered people without a second thought. There had been a deathly silence about the place and neither Will nor Halt spoke until they had got well away from the village.

As they rode back it started to rain. The rain hammered down on the ground and on Will, Halt and their horses. Will pulled his hood further over his head to stop the rain getting onto his face. The weather seemed to be reflecting his and Halts mood about what they had seen. Will smiled as Tug rode under the cover of the trees shielding them from the rain and cold breeze. By the time they got to the other side of the forest it was dark. The rain had stopped and the moon shone in the sky. There was a blue glow around the moon lighting up the night. They went back into the forest about ten metres and went off the path. They looked around for a small clearing that they could camp in for the night and went to sleep. The next morning Will and Halt woke early.  
"Will go find some firewood, Im dying for a mug of coffee" Halt said.  
"Sure" Will replied. He stood up from where he had been leaning against a tree and got his bow and arrows. Will walked around for about ten minutes searching for wood that would be good for a fire. He had a big bundle of twigs and branches for the fire when he thought he heard a grunt from somewhere in the forest behind him. He bent down on the ground pretending to pick up some more wood of the floor. He was pretty sure that it was just an animal but acted as if he wasn't interested so as not to attract attention if it was a person behind him. He slowly put the firewood he had collected down on the ground and swung round to face the direction the noise had come from, as he did this he pulled an arrow out of its quiver and strung it. Will lowered his bow when he saw who he was aiming at. Stood in front of him was a boy. He looked to be about fourteen and had brown hair and blue eyes. The boy was holding a girl behind his back hiding her from Will. She looked a lot younger than the boy. Will thought she was probably six or seven. She had long blonde hair that was resting on her shoulders and her green eyes were squashed into her brother's body. Will assumed that was who he was to her anyway. "Im not going to hurt you" Will said looking at the boy only to see he was looking from the knives at his side to the bow in his hand. Will realised that the kid wasn't going to trust him so he took the two knives out of their sheaths and put them on the ground. This made the girl press her face further into the boy. He then slowly put down his bow so he didn't seem a threat. "Look I want to help. Why are you out here alone?"  
"Our village was attacked" said the boy in quite voice that Will could hardly hear. Will put two and two together and realised what had happened to these kids.  
"Are you from the village on the border of Celtica?" Will asked already knowing the answer. The boy nodded his head. Will looked at the boy and saw that there was a slight tear in his eye but the boy wasn't going to let his sadness show in front of his sister. He needed to be strong for her sake. He needed to find somewhere safe for his sister. "Come with me" Will said as he bent over and picked up his bow and his knives. He walked over to the pile of wood on the floor and picked it up. He started to walk then turned back to the two children. The boy held his sisters hand and cautiously followed Will. Will carried on walking following the slight marks he had made on his way to collect wood. The marks Will had made were so discreet that you wouldn't have noticed them unless you were a ranger or a very good tracker at least. "Finally, I was going mad waiting for you. I couldn't make any coffee until you were back" Halt said.  
"Going mad?" Will asked a big smile on his face. He had never been able to hide his facial expressions like his older mentor could. Halt glared back at him. "Any way there was a reason to why I took longer." Will moved out the way and showed Halt the reason to his lateness.  
"Who are they?" asked Halt a little more than shocked at what his old apprentice had 'found'. Standing next to Will were two children. Will looked at Halt and was surprised to see there was an expression on his face. Never in his five years of training as a ranger of the years following him getting the silver oak leaf had Will ever seen an expression on Halts face. He always had the same grim look that he could hide anything and everything behind. Will cleared his throat as he saw that Halt was looking at him waiting for an explanation. "Well I was out collecting firewood and I heard something behind me or someone actually, so I turned round and found these two" said Will. Halt looked from Will to the children next to him. "What are their names?"  
"Im Mark and this is my sister Molly" said Mark in a quiet voice. Halt turned back to Will.  
"Get a fire going I think we all need food" Halt said looking at Will. Will did what Halt told him to and made a fire he also cooked the food and made to cups of coffee and two cups of water. Will and Halt left Mark and Molly by the warmth of the fire whist they gathered up their belongings and tied them onto Tug and Abelard. "What are you exactly planning on doing with them when we get back to Redmont?" Halt questioned Will when they were tightening the saddles on their horses. Since Will had bought back Mark and Molly, Halt had wondered what the boy was exactly planning on doing with the two children.  
"I was planning on going to Baron Arald and asking if they could stay at the ward."  
"And what if the Baron says no. What will you do then?" asked Halt looking at Will expectantly. Will thought about the question for a while and then came to a decision.  
"Well I was kind of hoping he would say yes. That's what you did with me after all." Will sighed "I didn't really think it through, I saw them and knew straight away that I wasn't going to leave them on their own especially with those bandits still around." Halt looked at Will and smiled inside but made sure the smile didn't show on the outside. That was why he had chosen Will to be his apprentice all those years ago, because Will was brave, curious, very resourceful and he was kind. It was everything a ranger needed to be. Halt turned round to the camp. There was nothing left except for the fire. He called over to Mark and Molly who came over to them. Will whispered in Tugs ear then let Mark climb onto him. Tug being a ranger horse let Mark sit on him even though he didn't like it. Tug shook his mane. _Why can't we have the girl she's lighter. _"Because you're stronger than Abelard" Will whispered into Tugs ear making sure Mark didn't hear. Halt eyed Will and then lifted Molly onto Abelard. He climbed onto Abelard's back and they all started for Redmont.


	2. Chapter 2

**I'd like to say thanks to Book Soldier, Alex The Rogue and AmazingWriter123 for reviewing. This is my first fan fiction that I have written so I hope it's good.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ranger's Apprentice sadly. It would be cool if I did though as they are great.**

Mark looked out over Tugs head. In front of him in the distance was a castle but it was like no castle he had seen before. This castle when you looked closely was slightly red. Mark could see from where he was that it was big, there were four towers three on the outside with walls joining them together into a triangle and then there was one in the middle of the three. Mark smiled he had found somewhere safe for his sister. He looked over at her and then he looked at Halt. He quickly looked back at Redmont when he noticed that Halt was looking at him.

They rode up into the castle courtyard towards the tower in the middle. Will climbed of Tug and then helped Mark down. Halt was doing the same with Molly. Mark walked over to his sister and smiled reassuringly at her. He went to ask Halt something then quickly turned and asked Will instead. Mark had only just met them and he felt more comfortable talking to the younger of the two adults. "What are we doing?" Mark asked Will.

"Im going to ask the Baron if you can stay here in the Ward" said Will. "That is if you want to?" Will added looking at Mark. "You and your sister would be safe here and you would both be looked after." Mark nodded. He had found somewhere safe for his sister which is what his aim had been since his village was attacked. He followed Will and Halt up the stone steps into the tower making sure his sister was near him at all times. Mark looked around. He had seen drawings of castles in books and pictures at home but he had never been inside one before. He followed Will and Halt up stairs and along corridors. They past a door with guards standing outside it and the two guards smiled at him. Mark smiled back and hurried after Will and Halt.

They went up more stairs and came to a door. Halt knocked on the door and then went in. Will, Mark and Molly followed. Inside the room there wasn't much. Opposite the door they had just come through was another door, there was a desk to the right and there were a few chairs along the wall. Behind the desk was a bookcase with lots of different books. A man behind the desk quickly stood up when he saw who had come in. "Ranger Halt Ranger Will" he said. Molly flinched slightly at the loudness of his voice.

"Martin" Will replied looking at Martin. The last time Will had properly seen Martin was when he was choosing his craft master 10 years ago. Martin still looked the same he was tall and skinny and hadn't really changed a bit.

"We would like to talk to the Baron" said Halt

"Ok, what would you like me to tell him?" asked Marin in his usual loud voice.

"Just tell him that we need to talk to him as soon as he is free" Halt said. Martin nodded and walked over to the door. He knocked on it and then went inside. A few moments later he came back out and told them that they could go in. Will and Halt walked up the stairs and went into the room. Mark and Molly started to follow when Martin stopped them. This was the first time he had noticed that the two children were even there.

"You can't go in they..." Martin got no further.

"This is about them so I'd say they should come in" said Halt glaring at Martin. Mark and Molly walked past Martin and went into the room that Will had also gone into. Martin slowly moved back from Halt who then shut the door to Baron Arald's office.

"Hello Halt. Will. How can I help you?" said the baron from behind his desk. The Baron looked up from his desk and looked at Halt and Will. He then noticed Mark and Molly standing near Halt. He had black hair and a black beard, he had dark eyes that showed that he was a kind and caring man. Halt noticed who the baron was looking at.

"Will was wondering if there were any spaces left in the ward" said Halt nudging Will with his elbow.

"Yes we do and how old are they?" asked the Baron. Will looked at Mark. "Well Mark is" Will didn't know what exact age they were.

"Fourteen. Im fifteen in August" Mark looked at the Baron who nodded.

"And how old is your sister Mark?"

"Molly is eight she will be nine in January." Mark looked at his sister.

"Well there should be places for them. Martin!" the Baron yelled to the secretary out the door. Martin walked into the room. "Could you go and find out if there are any places left in the ward for a eight and fourteen year old." He said smiling at Martin who bowed his head and then went off to do as he had been told. Baron Arald looked at Mark. If there was a place for him then he only had two months until the choosing day. He didn't have much time to decide who he wanted to be an apprentice to. Molly had lots of time she had 6 years to decide.

A few minutes later Martin came back. "There is room Sir" he said leaving the room again.

"Good" said the Arald pleased for the two children in front of him. He smiled and looked at Will and Halt. Will smiled back but Halt just looked grim like usual.

"We should leave so these two can go to the ward" Halt said. He left the room with Will behind him. Will and Halt left Mark and Molly with the Baron. He called for a guard who then took them to the ward.

"Good luck" said the Baron to Mark and Molly before they left.

Molly went and stayed with her age group and Mark went and stayed with the fourteen year olds. When Molly had left Mark hugged her and then followed the guard towards the other end of the corridor. He had stopped at a door and waited for someone to answer. A man answered and let Mark inside. There were five other children inside.

"Hello im Sarah. Who are you?" said Sarah going to greet him when she realised that Mark didn't know what to do. She was a tall girl with red hair that was pulled up in to a pony tail.

"I'm Mark" said Mark. He smiled at her and looked at the others.

"This is Lucy, Tom, Joe and Becky" she said pointing to each one as she said their names. Lucy was a small girl with brown hair that came to her shoulders. Tom was a tall boy that had blonde hair and green eyes. Joe was tall and had brown hair he had blue eyes as. Becky was short and slim. She had brown hair that flowed past her shoulders. He smiled at her. Mark thought she was beautiful. He quickly looked away when he realised he was staring at her. When everyone had introduced themselves they started to go back to what they had been doing. Lucy, Becky and Sarah went one way and Tom and Joe went the other way. Mark went over to Joe and Tom and joined in with them.

**-LINE BREAK-**

Everyone had gone to sleep an hour ago but no matter how hard Mark tried he couldn't get to sleep. He sat on his bed thinking about what had happened to him over the past week. He could feel tears forming in his eyes burning and aching to fall but he didn't let them. He couldn't cry on his first day in the ward. What would people think if they saw him? He sat up in his bed and felt about on the floor for his boots. He slipped them on and went over to the door. He opened it slightly and looked through the gap. Sitting at the table was James -the person that looked after him and his other five ward mates-.

He slowly and quietly closed the door and went back to his bed. He sat on it for a minute or so then walked over to the window. He climbed out of it and made his way down the wall of the castle. He made his way slowly and made sure he had firm hand and foot holds before he descended another step. It took him a couple of minutes to get down the wall. He had always been a good climber back in his village and he had climbed nearly all the trees in the village. He had also climbed onto the roof of his house to get his ball that he had accidently thrown onto the roof. His parents had been very angry with him for this. He walked away from the wall being very careful that no guards saw him. He walked with the shadows the trees made so no one would notice him unless they were looking. He came to a tree and started to climb it. He sat in the top branches and looked at his new home. This was when he let a single tear role down his face. He liked his new home and the people here were nice but they still weren't his parents. He sat in the tree for hours just thinking about different things. When the guards changed shifts he went back to the wall and climbed back up. No one knew he had gone so he slipped back into bed and went to sleep. He didn't realise someone had watched him climb down the wall and go across the field into the tree.

Will had been with Halt and Pauline since he had come out of Baron Arald's office and he was just about to go home. He went over to Tug and saddled him up. He then climbed onto him and started to ride off he stopped when he saw something move out of the wards quarters. He looked and saw someone climb down the wall. He climbed off Tug and walked over to a tree. He could see who it was now. It was Mark. He watched him walk across the grass keeping to the shade. Will smiled he was moving how a ranger would. He watched as Mark climbed up the tree. Again he smiled as he realised Mark had gone up the same tree he used to go up. Will climbed back on Tug and rode back to his cottage. There was an idea forming in his head.

**I hope you like this. I think it was better than the last chapter as before it was just introducing the story and characters. Please review so I know what you like and don't like.**


	3. Chapter 3

It had been one and a half months since Mark had fist come to the ward. Over the weeks he had become friends with everyone else in the ward. Since he had been there he had become great friends with Joe. He was also good friends with Tom. Mark was the only one of the six that had a sibling in the ward so every now and then he would go and visit her and see how she was. He was now fifteen and knew he didn't have long to decide who he wanted to be an apprentice to.

"There's battle school, horse school, the diplomatic service, cooking and lots more to choose from but I think they're the only the only four that have spaces at the moment" said Tom through a mouthful of apple.

"There's scribe school as well, but I don't think you would want to go to scribe school" added Joe.

"Why wouldn't I want to go to scribe school?" Mark pretended to look offended.

"I didn't mean anything bad by it I just don't think you would like... that's very funny. Im just dying with laughter" Joe said sarcastically when he saw the smile on both Mark and Toms faces. They all started laughing. Mark had known about the choosing day for weeks now but he still didn't know what he wanted to do.

"Your right, I don't want to be stuck in a room all day writing" said Mark. He wanted something more adventurous. He wanted to be outside not stuck in a hot stuffy room doing something he found boring. Which was what writing was to Mark he found it boring and tiring. "What are you two choosing?" He asked hoping they might give him some ideas.

"I want to go to Horse school" Tom said. Tom got on well with animals and he had grown up on a farm before his parents died when he was 10. Tom's parents had died in a fire that had started on the farm. He was the only one out of his family to survive because he was out with his friends. He had come back to find the entire farm burnt down and his mum, dad and brother had died. He had no relatives so the Baron had let him stay in the ward.

"I want to go to battle school" said Joe. Joe was adventurous just like Mark and he would defiantly get into battle school even if he didn't want to. Mark didn't know what he wanted to do. He wanted to grow up and be a warrior but there was something holding him back. He didn't know what it was but there was something stopping him wanting to go to battle school. Maybe it was nerves that he wouldn't be accepted for battle school he thought as he was truthfully very nervous about it. There were lots of things he wondered about the choosing day like would he see his friends much after they had become apprentices? Everyone seemed so confident with what they wanted to do and none of them seemed nervous. He knew that they were but they were good at hiding it unlike him. He knew that they could tell he was nervous; he had no idea what he wanted to do and he wasn't going to work on a farm. He would rather go to scribe school. That would be more interesting than working on a farm.

It was a Saturday and all the wards were allowed to go around the castle. Mark, Tom and Joe were all outside sitting under a tree enjoying the heat. The tree was giving them lots of shade from the sun and they were all relaxing. It was mid afternoon and they had already spent all their money. Every week they were giver 4 coins to spend on what they wanted and each week the three of them spent it on stuff that they were never going to use. Between them they had 3 coins left and it wasn't enough to buy anything. Joe got up and stretched.

"Shall we go and walk around" he said. Mark and Tom shrugged and got up. They walked of and went to looked around the village. They had nothing to do and they were bored, they couldn't go inside because it was too hot and there was nothing of interest that they could do out here. As they were walking Mark felt something cold and wet on his top. He looked down and saw that there was a line of water dripping down his shirt. He looked at Joe and noticed that he was also covered in water. He looked over at Tom to see that he was standing there with his water skin laughing. Mark looked at him with and evil glint in his eye. Next thing Tom knew he was covered in water. Joe joined in and they were all chasing each other their clothes dripping wet.

Both Tom and Joe had run out of water and look at Mark who was grinning. He threw the last of his water at Tom who moved out of the way at the last minute, the water hit the person behind him soaking them all over.

"Ahhhhhhh" the person screamed. She turned around to look at Mark who was already trying to apologise. He stopped when he saw who it was. It was Becky.

"Becky!" he said shocked. He recovered from his shock and started to apologise. "Becky im so sorry I didn't see you there. I was aiming for Tom but he moved out the way and..." he stopped as water splashed him in the face. He wiped the water from his eyes and looked at her in shock again. She smiled innocently at him as if she hadn't done anything even though the evidence was in her hand.

"Becky Turner" he said. She was slightly taken back by the way he had spoken and was of guard. Mark pulled the water skin from her hand and threw it over her getting Lucy and Sarah wet in the process as well. Next thing they knew the boys had the girls chasing them with water. Mark ran and jumped behind a bush. The bush was on the edge of the forest. He saw Lucy come into view and he moved back. As he moved the leaves brushed against him. He instantly stopped hoping Lucy hadn't heard. She looked over in his direction and he stood still. She turned back to the village and walked off. He smiled he was about to get out of the bush to jump out on her when he heard a stick snap behind him.

He turned round and looked into the darkness of the forest. He couldn't see any one which only made his curiosity stronger. He looked behind him to see if anyone was looking and headed into the forest. Other people may have gone back to the village just thinking it was an animal but Mark wanted to be certain. He didn't think it was going to be anything else but he had nothing better to do. He walked past tree after tree and saw nothing unusual. He wasn't surprised. He was about to turn round and head back to the castle when he saw a slight movement out the corner of his eye. He didn't look over in case anything was there. At the moment if there was someone there they didn't know he had noticed them.

"It's dangerous to wonder the forest alone" said someone from behind him. Mark cursed under his breath. Why did he have to be so curious all the time?

**It's a cliff hanger. You probably all know who it is already but tell me who you think anyway. This is set after Will and Alice are married so I would like to put a little about Wills family in the next chapter, but im stuck on a name for their child. Please give me any ideas for names and what they are like. I would obviously give you credit for it but I am just really stuck. If you don't want them to have children let me know too. Please review as it makes me HAPPY and I will know if you guys like it so far or not. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey I hope you like this chapter I struggled with it a bit. I noticed I spelt Alyss wrong in the last chapter so im really sorry about that. Wills family is only mentioned slightly in this chapter but you should see more of them as the story progresses. I named their child Arianna and the idea of her name was given to me by Lorrie the Ninja Elf so I'd like to say thanks. Thanks Lorrie the Ninja Elf. Arianna also thanks you for her name.**

Mark recognised the voice behind him. He couldn't remember who the voice belonged to but somewhere in the back of his mind he recognised it. He slowly turned round and looked into the eyes of Will. Will the ranger was looking back at him smiling. What was he doing following me? Mark thought looking back at the ranger. "What were you doing following me?" Mark accidently said voicing his thoughts.

"What were you doing in the forest? I thought people in the ward weren't allowed any further than the village?" asked Will. He thought for a moment, the ranger was right he wasn't meant to be in the forest. Mark didn't know what to say so he said the first thing that came to his mind.

"I asked you first" Mark cursed himself. He had just spoken back to a Ranger. Worse still one of the most well known Rangers in Araluen.

Will was stumped momentarily by what Mark had said but he quickly recovered. "I wanted to see what you were up to." Will said "now back to my question" Mark looked at Will.

"Well I erm I heard something in the forest so I went to see what it was." Mark looked at Will wondering what the ranger would say. He didn't say anything he just looked at Mark. A minute passed and the Ranger still hadn't said anything. "You were the one who made the stick snap weren't you?" Mark stared at Will knowing the answer. Will smiled confirming Marks thoughts. Mark had gone to look and see what the noise was. That was the reason why Will had snapped the stick. He knew Mark was there and was hoping that he would look to see what had made the noise. Mark had been curious and had looked to see what the noise was. If he remembered correctly Halt had said that you need to be curious to be a Ranger.

"Come on you should go back to the ward before anyone else sees you or wonders where you are." Will motioned for Mark to go in front of him. Mark walked out of the forest with Will behind him. He was expecting Will to turn off and go to his cabin but that never happened. Mark could feel Wills eyes on him but didn't turn to look at him. Even though Will had got Mark and his sister a home Mark still felt uncomfortable around Rangers. Just like everyone else in Araluen did. Will followed Mark up to the castle and Mark thought for a second that Will was making sure he went back to the ward. Will eventually separated of from Mark when they got to a set of stairs. Will went up the stairs and Mark went across over to the ward. He opened the door and walked in to find that Joe and Tom were back in the ward already. They had both changed into dry clothes and were discussing what they had done whilst Mark had been away. Mark was surprised that they were here already as it was still light outside. "What are you doing back so early?" asked Mark. Joe and Tom looked at each other and smiled.

"Well James saw us throwing water over each other and he kind of got really angry and told us to come back and get changed" Tom said.

Mark smiled "Where are Becky, Lucy and Sarah?" asked Mark looking around and not seeing them.

"They weren't there when James saw us" Joe said "Why are you back so early?" he asked

Mark looked at Tom and Joe "My clothes were annoying me. They kept sticking to my body because they were wet so I came to get a spare change of clothes and then I was going to go look for you two" he lied. He nodded to himself. He was quite happy that they believed the lie he had just made up. He didn't really want to tell them that he had been with a Ranger. He knew that everyone was cautious around Rangers and he didn't know how his friends would react. He walked over to his bed and grabbed some dry clothes. He then put them on and came back out and sat with Joe and Tom. Marks thoughts went back to the choosing day. He had two weeks to decide what craft he wanted to do.

**-LINE BREAK-**

Will walked up the stairs and carried on walking until he came to a door. He was about to knock on it when he heard Halts deep voice telling him to come in. He opened the door and went and sat down on a chair opposite Halt. Will gathered his thoughts and then spoke what was on his mind. "Remember the two children we found when we were on our way back from Celtica?" Will asked

"What the boy and his sister?" said Halt knowing full well that Will meant them.

"Yes. I was thinking" he stopped as he heard Halt mutter under his breath about Will and thinking. He continued anyway "I was thinking would I be able to have the boy as my apprentice? I mean do you think I should?" Halt looked up from what he was doing at this.

"The boy?" he questioned

"Yes" Will said. He thought he had made that quite clear.

"Your apprentice?" Halt queried

"Yes. I want the boy called Mark to be my Apprentice. Do you think that is a good idea?" Will said putting emphasis on the words boy and apprentice.

"Has he got any slight skills that could show he would be a good Ranger?" Halt asked

"Yes. He knows the basics of unseen movement and he's a good climber." Will said "He's also curious I followed him into the forest when I snapped a twig to see if he would find out what it was."

"And he did go into the forest."

"Yes" Will was starting to get the idea that Halt disagreed with him. "So what do you think? Should he become my apprentice?" asked Will.

"It's not my decision. You would have to ask Crowley when you see him next." Will smiled he was going to visit Horace and Evanlyn/Princess Cassandra in Araluen fief in a couple of days so he could ask him then. "I mean if I was Mark I would say no. It would be five years stuck with you and I've been through that." Halt said this all most to himself. Will stopped smiling and glared at Halt. If looks could kill Halt would be dead.

At five o'clock Will left Halt to get on with his paperwork. He walked home as he had left Tug at his cottage when he was with Mark in the forest. Will walked in and saw Alyss over in the kitchen cooking. He was about to say hello when the air was pushed out of him by his only child Arianna. He looked down at her and smiled. He picked her up and went and sat down at the table with her. Arianna was ten years old. She had Wills brown eyes and she had her blonde hair from Alyss. Alyss came and sat down with them giving them each a bowl of soup. She had made Will coffee and Arianna had water. Will enjoyed his meal and then talked with his wife and child. He put Arianna to sleep and then came in and talked with Alyss.

"So have you talked to Halt about your apprentice?" Alyss asked. A couple of days ago Will had spoken with Alyss about him having an apprentice. He wanted to know if she was alright with as it would mean another child would be coming into the house. Alyss had agreed and had tidy up the spare room ready for his apprentice, now she was just waiting for Will to be told he could have an apprentice.

"Yes. He told me to speak to Crowley" he said

"It's good were going to visit Horace and Cassandra tomorrow then" she stated

"Yes im hoping Crowley will say yes then I'll ask Mark if he wants to be my apprentice" Will said. He really hoped that Mark would say yes. He had a lot of the skills already and Will thought he would become a good ranger.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey I hope you like this chapter it took me a really long time to do. It is slightly longer than the other chapters so I hope you like it. I'd like to say thanks to ****AmazingWriter123****, ****Lorrie the Ninja Elf**** and ****Alex The Rogue**** for reviewing on my last chapter im glad that you liked it.**

Will sat on Tug as he thought about what he would say to Crowley. He was on his way to Araluen with Alyss and Arianna. Arianna was in between him and Alyss was on her horse. Arianna had named her horse Snowflake because her coat was a beautiful, bright white. Arianna looked at her dad and smiled a big toothy grin. She was excited about going to Castle Araluen and to see her friend Luke who was Horace's and Cassandra's son. Luke was the same age as Arianna and they were both adventurous and liked to run around. This annoyed Alice and Cassandra very much as both children would always come in filthy. Alyss was looking forward to seeing Horace and Cassandra again but hid this from everyone as she didn't want to look unprofessional in front of the King and his daughter. Will smiled at his wife who had a concerned look when looking at Arianna who was almost falling out of her saddle with excitement. They hadn't been to see Horace for a year so Arianna was dying to get there and see one of her best friends.

They rounded a bend and Will looked up at the castle in amazement. He felt the same every time he saw Redmont but Castle Araluen was even more beautiful. The castle stood tall and the flags on it rippled in the wind. The sun shone on the white walls giving them a gold tint. This just added to the beauty and magnificence of the Castle. Will looked up at the soldiers who were on the battlements. At the castle gate a guard stopped them and then realised who it was.

"Ranger Will, Mrs Treaty" he said and then quickly let them pass. "I'll inform them that you have arrived." He said hurrying of into the castle. Will and his family followed the guard. Their horse's hooves clopped on the cobblestones which rang out around the courtyard. Will climbed of Tug and helped Arianna of snowflake.

"Where are they?" asked Arianna eagerly.

"I don't know, just give them a chance we have only just got here" Will said smiling at his daughters excitement. As he said this the doors to the castle opened and Horace, Cassandra and their son Luke walked out. Will and Horace smiled at each other. "It's great to see you again" Will said.

"You too. Alice you look great and Arianna how are you?" Horace and Will both tried to cover up their smiles but couldn't they were best friends and hadn't seen each other in ages.

"Im good, how are you?" she asked

"Im great" she said. They all greeted each other and they let Luke and Arianna go off and play. When they greeted Princess Cassandra both Will and Alyss bowed much to Cassandra's disapproval.

"I've told you both you don't need to bow to me" she said annoyance in her voice.

"Cassandra you are heir to the throne we have got to bow to you." Alice said. They walked up the stairs and where about to go and have something to eat when Crowley walked past.

"Hello Will, Alyss" he said. "Hello Horace and Cassandra" Crowley also bowed and Alyss could tell that Cassandra wasn't pleased.

"Hello Crowley" Will decided that it was better to ask Crowley now rather than later. "Could I ask you something" he asked. Crowley nodded his head and walked off telling Will to follow him. Will followed Crowley to his room. Will went and sat at the table and he waited for Crowley to come and sit down on the other side. Crowley came over with two cups of coffee, one with a spoonful of honey in for Will -as he knew that Halt had passed on what he thought were bad habits to both of his apprentices- and he had a cup of coffee without honey in for him. Will sat and waited for Crowley to finish his coffee before he asked the big question. Crowley drained his cup and then let out a big sigh of satisfaction.

"So Will what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" Crowley asked.

"Well erm" Wills stopped to gather his thoughts and then carried on. "Well I was wondering if I could have an apprentice?" Will asked hoping that Crowley wouldn't act the same way that Halt had. Crowley unlike Halt showed his emotions and smiled at Wills question.

"Have you found someone that you think could be a good ranger?" he asked knowing that Will wouldn't have asked if he didn't have someone in mind. Will nodded. "Who are they?" Crowley asked.

"Do you remember when me and Halt went to Celtica and I found those to children in the forest" Will said. Crowley nodded. "Well I think that Mark the boy" Will said so Crowley knew who he was "would make a good ranger" Crowley smiled again. Will had been a ranger for a long time which made him think that Will was ready to have an apprentice and Will had also done a lot for the country and believed he word make a good mentor.

"And you think he would be make a good ranger?" Crowley asked. Will realised that this was going in the same direction as the conversation that he had had with Halt except Crowley seemed to like the idea a lot more.

"Yes he's fast and he's a good climber and he knows a little on unseen movement" Will said trying to convince him.

"He's a good climber, did he climb up a tower as well" Crowley asked not actually meaning for Will to answer.

"No, he climbed down one" Will said

"Oh" Crowley said shocked "Well I think you are ready to have an apprentice and if you think that Mark is going to make a good ranger then I'm fine with you having an apprentice." Will looked at Crowley and smiled.

"Thanks" he said

"We have a gathering in a couple of months. Make sure you bring him, and then me and some other rangers can test him to see if he can get his bronze oak leaf." Crowley said happy with Wills reaction.

A few days later Will, Alyss and Arianna left Castle Araluen and headed back for Redmont. When Will got back to Redmont he realised that he needed to ask Mark fast as there was only three days left until he choosing day and he was running out of time to talk with him.

**-LINE BREAK-**

Mark walked along the path through the village with his hands in his pockets and his head looking at the ground. He was lost in thought thinking about the choosing day. It was three days away and he still didn't know what he wanted to do. Everyone in the ward kept asking him what he wanted and every time they asked he said he wasn't sure. Each time he said that he got the same reply 'You need to hurry up the choosing days soon.' No matter how hard he tried he didn't know what he wanted with his life and no matter what people said he still couldn't decide. Even the Baron had asked him and he said he didn't know. He kicked at a stone on the ground. Why couldn't he decide? It wasn't like it was a hard decision, he just had to decide what he wanted to do he thought. Whether that was to fight in battles or work with horses or even write important documents for the king. Suddenly he felt a pain on the top of his head and heard someone else groan in pain. He looked up and realised he was staring into the grim eyes of Halt the ranger.

"Watch were you going kid" the ranger said rubbing a spot on his stomach where Mark had obviously hit him.

"Sorry I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing" Mark said realising how bad his reason sounded.

"Yes I noticed that or else we wouldn't have knocked into each other" Halt said looking at Mark.

"Sorry" Mark said again. He didn't know what to do so he waited to see if Halt had anything else to say. When Halt walked off Mark sighed in relief. He didn't realise it but he had been holding in his breath. He was relieved when the ranger went on his way. He looked back at the ranger and then rubbed his head which he realised was now really hurting. He carried on walking up to the castle and went back to thinking about the choosing day. He sighed again wishing the answer would be given to him. He stopped walking when he thought he heard someone call his name. He turned round but saw no one looking at him. Then he heard it again he looked closer and saw the ranger looking at him. When he looked closer he saw that it wasn't the grim older ranger it was the younger one called Will. He casually walked over so as not to draw attention to himself as he still didn't like the thought of people seeing him with a ranger. He didn't know why he didn't want people seeing him with a ranger but then he thought back to the times he saw people act differently around them and thought he didn't want that at the moment not whilst he was in the ward.

"Did you call my name?" Mark asked when he got over to Will. He had started to feel more comfortable around the younger ranger since he had spoken to him a lot more often than he used to.

"Yes I did" Will said looking at the curious boy in front of him. "I was wondering if you knew what craft you wanted to do when you left the ward after all the choosing day is in three days" Why was everyone reminding him of this? Mark felt as if people could see that he didn't know what to choose and were just asking him to annoy him.

"No" Mark said "I don't know what I want to do" Will looked at Mark who now looked depressed. "Why did you want to know?" asked Mark. He was starting to get curious. Why would a ranger want to know what he wanted to choose as a craft? Mark looked at Will. He was positive that he would get an answer from Will as the ranger didn't seem interested with what anyone else in the ward had chosen.

"I was just being curious" said Will looking at Mark in the same way Mark was looking at him.

"No you weren't. You haven't asked anyone else in the ward about what they have chosen" Mark said. He was surprised at where his confidence had just sprung from. He had just answered back to a ranger.

Then he got it. He realised why he couldn't choose what craft he wanted to do. It was because he wanted to be a ranger. At the back of his mind he was hoping that he would have the opportunity to become a ranger. Ever since he saw Will in the forest holding the bow up with ease he realised that's what he wanted to do with his life. He had used his dads bow in the village once when he wasn't looking and had a couple of shots with it. He had enjoyed it and used it whenever his dad wasn't looking. He wanted to be a ranger. He smiled slightly then quickly stopped. That wasn't why Will had asked. Why would Will want him to be a ranger he had done nothing to show that he could be one. Will had just been curious and that was all.

"Your right I wasn't just asking for that reason." At the sound of Wills voice Mark snapped back to reality.

"Pardon" Mark asked.

"I said your right that wasn't the only reason why I asked. I asked you because I wanted to know if you wanted to be my apprentice and train to be a ranger." Marks face dropped

"What?" he asked. Mark couldn't believe it. "You want me to be you apprentice?"

"Yes" Will said a little confused. He couldn't tell whether Mark wanted to or not. "So what do you say? Is it a yes or a no?" Will asked.

"Yes. I want to be your apprentice" Mark said as realisation dawned on him at what Will had asked him "Yes" Will smiled.

"Great. That's great" Will said also smiling. He couldn't believe why he had been so nervous about asking Mark. They stood there in silence for a few minutes as they both thought about what had happened.

Then Mark asked "What do I say on the choosing day?"

Will thought for a moment and then came to a decision. "When the Baron asks you what craft you want to choose you tell him that you want to become a ranger. I will be there so if anyone has any questions they can ask me" Will said still smiling.

"Ok" Mark said. He was also still smiling at what had just happened. He couldn't believe it he had just been asked if he wanted to be a ranger.

**-LINE BREAK-**

The next three days went extremely fast for Mark. He still couldn't believe that he was going to become a ranger. When he had walked into the ward after he had stopped talking to Will he had a giant smile on his face and whenever someone asked why he couldn't put what had happened into words, he had just stood there smiling. The next day he had decided to wait until the choosing day and just tell everyone then and whenever he thought about it he had smiled. He was still smiling now when he was waiting with Lucy, Sarah, Becky, Joe and Tom for the Baron to be ready and for everyone to choose their craft. Martin stood waiting for the Baron to tell him that they could go in looking at Mark with a confused face. Since he had been working as the Barons secretary everyone that had been waiting in his room for the choosing day looked scared and nervous but now there was a boy waiting with a huge grin plastered to his face. How strange he thought to himself.

He got them all in age order and then told them that they could go through to the Barons office. They walked in and Baron Arald greeted the young ward mates and they did the same back to him. They waited for a while and then Arald asked Martin if he would tell the craft masters that they could come in. Five very different people walked in. The first person that came through was Sir Rodney the battle master for Redmont, then came the head of the Diplomatic service Lady Pauline, then it was Ulf the horse master, then came Nigel the scribe master and last to come in was Chubb the Kitchen master.

"Good morning" the Baron said in his usual happy tone. He greeted each of them individually and they greeted him back. Mark looked and saw that Will hadn't come in with them. Mark started to get slightly nervous. What if he's forgotten to come? He asked himself his heart pounding in his chest. "Well shall we start?" the Baron said to everyone in the room. "Martin"

"Right what's your name? And what craft do you pick?" he asked to the person at the front of the line.

"Lucy Woods" Lucy said "I would like to become apprentice to Master Chubb" she said looking hopefully at him.

Master Chubb asked her some questions about cooking and how she would go about making something and then replied "I'll take her as an apprentice Sir" he said looking at the Baron who had a smile on his face. Martin moved onto Sarah and asked her the same question. Sarah replied that she would like to become part of the Diplomatic service. Lady Pauline the head of the Diplomats in Redmont had seen some of the things that Sarah had done and agreed to take her as an apprentice.

"What's your name? And what craft do you wish to take?" Martin asked Joe who was next in line. Joe replied confidently that he wanted to be an apprentice at battle school. Sir Rodney looked at Joe and decided.

"Sir, I will take him as my apprentice" Joe smiled. Marin asked Becky next and Master Chubb accepted her as his second apprentice. The next in the line was Tom who was accepted at Horse school after he had been asked if he had ever looked after any horses before.

"Right last in the line. What is your name? And what craft do you choose?" Mark stood there Will still hadn't come in and Mark was starting to get very nervous. Everyone was looking at him all his ward mates were looking at him none of them actually knowing what craft Mark had chosen.

"What is your name?" Martin asked his voice even louder than usual.

"Sorry. My name is Mark Fletcher" he said.

"And what craft do you want to choose?" the Baron asked Mark

Mark built up all his courage and told the Baron the answer. "I want to be a ranger's apprentice." He said. The Baron looked at Mark shocked. Mark could feel every one's eyes on him. His ward mates looked at him shocked. Sarah the smartest out of them all figured out that that was why Mark was so happy a couple of days ago.

"Mark these are the only crafts that are available." The Baron looked at Mark. He was about to say something else when someone spoke from behind him. He jumped slightly in fright and turned round to see Will leaning against the wall.

"It's ok. Me and Mark have spoken about this and Crowley and Halt agree with me." Will said to the Baron who had now recovered from his shock, but now Will had said this every ones mouths in the room dropped even further. The Baron looked at Will and then looked back at Mark.

"Well then Mark, you can be a rangers apprentice." He said smiling for the boy in front of him. "Congratulations to you all. Tonight you will have a wonderful meal cooked by Master Chubb and tomorrow you will go off to your knew lives." The Baron said looking at all the smiling faces in front of him. He let them all go and then he let the craft masters go. He watched as Mark and Will left wondering what the future would bring for the boy.

**I hope you liked it. Please tell me your views on it. Review, favourite, follow whatever you do. Let me know if you have any questions on it but for now see ya.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey I hope you liked my last chapter and I thank you all for reviewing. **

Mark sat down at the table where his five ward mates/friends were already sitting. Joe and Tom were talking about still being able to meet up sometimes as they were both going to be learning their new craft right next to each other. Becky and Lucy were talking about being in the same craft and still being able to be friends easily and Sarah was sitting with them making sure that they could all stay friends. Mark walked over and sat with Joe and Tom. Mark smiled and they smiled back. They talked for ten minutes and then the food came. Mark looked at the plates of food that came out. There were plates of vegetables and different meats and there were plates of fruits and pies for desert. Will looked in amazement and took the food he wanted. He had chicken and vegetables and then for his desert he had apple pie with cream. "So when did you talk to the ranger?" asked Lucy from the other side of the table.

"Three days ago" replied Mark. Everyone was looking at him wanting to know everything they could. Since they had known Mark none of them had thought that he would become a ranger and they didn't think that Mark had known it either.

"What did he say about it when you talked?" Joe asked wanting to know.

"Oh he just asked me if I knew what craft I was going to choose and when I said no he asked me if I wanted to become his apprentice" Mark said simply. He looked at his friends who were all looking at him. Every eye was on him and it was making him feel uncomfortable. As the time went on they asked more questions about Marks meeting with Will, Mark replied but eventually decided to go to sleep. As he lay in his bed he thought about what tomorrow would bring and if being a rangers apprentice was going to be as good as he expected.

Mark woke in his bed he was the first to wake out of the six ward mates but only by a couple of minutes. He lay in his bed wondering what the day would bring. As Tom started to stir over in his bed Mark decided to get up and get ready for his new life. By the time he was dressed Joe had only just got up. Joe stared around squinting as the suns light hit him in the face through the window. Mark waited for Tom and Joe to get ready and then they went and had their last breakfast together. As they got up from the table to leave the three boys said by to the three girls, they were all good friends and knew that they were not going to see as much of each other anymore. The three boys left and Mark felt sad. He was going to miss Becky when they were doing their different crafts.

The boys got to the castle gate where they said their farewells and went their separate ways. When Mark was down the path he turned round and waved to his two best friends. He carried on walking down the path through the village and then turned off to head to Wills cabin which he knew was on the edge of the woods somewhere. He looked up above the forest and saw a line of black smoke swirling into the sky. He headed in that direction and saw a small cottage surrounded by trees. He walked over to it and saw a figure in brown leather sitting on a chair outside the house. He walked over and the figure spoke to him. "Hello Mark" he said not even opening his eyes .

"How did you know it was me?" asked Mark looking at the ranger.

"Well who else would be here. My family are all in the house so it could only be you." Will said now opening his eyes and standing up. Mark thought about what Will had said. Family, Mark didn't even think about Wills family. He started to think about what they would be like and if he would like them. More importantly would they like him as he would be living in their home. Will stretched his arms and back. He walked towards the door of the cabin and gestured for Mark to follow him. Mark followed Will into the house. He walked into the house and looked around at his new home for the next five years. There was a women standing in the kitchen and she turned round as the door opened. She smiled at Will.

"Hello Will" she said then she looked at Mark. "Hello..." she stopped waiting for Mark to say his name.

"Mark. My name is Mark" he said.

"Hello Mark. Im Alyss Wills wife and im guessing your his new apprentice" she said smiling at Mark. He nodded and looked over at a door on the other side of the room as it squeaked open. A girl with brown eyes and blonde hair walked through the door. Mark thought she looked about ten years old but she was slightly tall for her age. She smiled at Mark and then turned to her dad who was standing next to him.

"Who's this?" she asked looking back at Mark.

"This is my new apprentice" Will said "He's going to be staying with us for a while. Remember I told you a couple of days ago" Arianna squinted her eyes as she remembered back to a couple of days ago.

"I remember" she said as she remembered that she had asked her dad what an apprentice was at the time. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Mark" Mark said "What's yours?" he asked being polite.

"Arianna" Arianna said.

"Well it's nice to meet you Arianna"

"Right your room is over there if you go put your things in there and then you can join us for breakfast" Will said pointing to a door that was next to the one Arianna had come out of. Mark nodded and walked into his room.

There was a bed against the back wall with a window above it, opposite the bed was a cupboard for Mark to put all his belongings in and there was a desk for Mark to sit at and do work on. The room was very neat and tidy and it looked like it had been dusted only yesterday. Mark smiled. This was his room. He came out of his room after unpacking the things he had bought with him and then sat down at the table with Will and his family. They talked about each other's lives and the things they had done. Mark tried coffee for the first time and he liked it which Will wasn't happy about. Less coffee for me now Will thought sadly.

Once they had finished breakfast Will showed Mark how to make coffee and then he took Mark outside to a little firing range outside his house. There were four targets at one end of the range. Two were in front and the other two were five metres further away from the first two. Mark could see a red bull's eye in the centre of the first two targets but could only just make out the small red bull's eyes on the second two. Will dropped a blanket on the floor and opened it. Lying on top of the blanket were some weapons. Will recognised one of them as a bow but it was different from the bows he had seen before and it was definitely different from the one Will had. Will picked up the bow and handed it to Mark. "This is your bow. You are probably wondering why it's different from mine" Will said. Mark nodded and let Will continue. "All apprentices start with a recurve bow. You need a lot of strength to use a long bow so you start off with a recurve bow and as you get stronger you will get more powerful bows. The curve in the bow means your arrow will have more speed and power without as bigger draw weight. You will be able to use it easier at the moment." Will handed the bow to Mark. Mark took the bow. The wood it was made from was smooth as he ran his hand down the side. He pulled the string back experimentally. Will handed him a quiver with twenty-four arrows in and told him to shoot the bow. He also gave him a strip of hard leather. Will showed him how to put the piece of leather on so that the string wouldn't hit his arm. Mark took an arrow from the quiver and knocked it to the string. He pulled back and aimed at a tree a few metres away. He aimed and fired. The arrow missed the tree by ten centimetres. Will told him to do the same again but this time he corrected him whenever he was doing something wrong. "Pull the arrow back with your back muscles and you will find it easier" Will said watching Marks every move. This time Mark hit the tree. It wasn't in the centre of the tree but it had hit what Mark was aiming for. "Well done" Will said.

After Will showed Mark the two knives that a ranger would carry. He showed him how to use a Saxe knife and told him that it could block a sword stroke he also showed him how to throw the throwing knife. Mark was better at using a bow than using the throwing knife but Will assured him that he would get a lot of practice and that he had five years to learn and become better at it. After Mark had had a go using the knives Will bent down and picked up the blanket. When Mark looked closer he realised that it was a cloak. The cloak was just like the one Will was wearing. It had a mottled brown pattern and it seemed to disappear into the bushes of the forest as the wind blew. Mark put the cloak on and then Will took him back into the cabin where he taught him about the ranger corps and its history and about Araluens past.

**I hope you all liked this chapter. Please tell me if you liked or not and if you want to review, follow or fav it.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi I would like to thank everyone that reviewed my last chapter Alex the Rogue, Ranger Shelby, AmazingWriter123 and Lorrie the Ninja Elf. It took me longer to write this chapter so I apologise but I am going to write one chapter per week so I have more time to write it. I hope you like this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ranger's Apprentice John Flanagan does. I wish I did though how cool would that be.**

The second day of Marks apprenticeship was hard work. Will showed him how to shoot a bow properly and how to throw the throwing knife swiftly and in one fluid motion. Will also showed Mark how to throw the Saxe knife but concentrated more on showing him different blocks with the Saxe for the times Mark could get into close quarter fights. Every time Mark did something slightly wrong Will made sure that he corrected him so that he would be learning the right things and not learning something wrong.

Mark spent hours learning how to use his weapons and when Will thought he had done enough with the weapons and needed a break he showed Mark how to use his cloak effectively to make his movements even more concealed and unseen. Mark had a big advantage over other apprentices when it came to unseen movement as he all ready had a good idea on how to use the shadows and the things around him to conceal himself. The problem was and Will stressed this to him was the fact that Mark had heavy footing. He kept telling Mark this and showed him how to tread lighter on the ground but he knew that Mark was going to find this a problem. Mark was very persistent and kept going at moving quietly. He looked on the ground and made sure he didn't tread on any sticks that would snap or that he didn't tread on any dead leaves that would crunch as he put pressure on them. Even after they had stopped practising unseen and unheard movement he moved around the house trying to be as quiet as possibly; which was still very loud for Will. He could creep around the house without Arianna or Alyss hearing but Will could still hear him.

Mark would start everyday at eight, then stop at twelve when he would have lunch and would carry on with his training until six when he would have tea and then rest. Mark could feel that getting up so early and doing so much work was getting to him. He felt a lot more tired but made sure not to show it in front of Will. Mark didn't know it but Will could see he was tired. Will knew that he would get used to it and not feel as tired as he got further into training as that was how he had felt when he had been training with Halt.

Before Mark knew it he was on his third week of being Wills apprentice. Each day Will would watch him practice with the bow, Saxe and throwing knife and then he would leave Mark for an hour to practice on his own. Will would sit in the chair and watch Mark whist getting on with important documents for the ranger corps just like Halt had done with him.

"Right!" Will said standing up and looking over at Mark. Mark stopped what he was doing and looked at Will. He thought for a moment that he had done something wrong but Wills next words stopped that thought straight away. "I want to do something different today. Go get your arrows from the target and come wait over here." Mark did as he was told and waited outside the cabin door for Will who had gone back inside. Will came back out a minute later and told Mark to follow him.

"What are we doing? Where are we going? How far is it?" asked Mark giving Will more and more questions to answer. So that's what I sound like Will thought and then looked behind at his apprentice who was eagerly looking back at Will.

"You'll find out" was all Will said then he turned back to the road they were walking on. They went into the forest and carried on following the path. Will got to one point in the road and then turned off to the left. Mark rushed after him. As they walked through the forest leaves brushed against them wiping the residue from the rain on their clothes making them wet. The trees and bushes that they passed were taller than Mark and they felt like they were closing in around him. The path they followed was overcrowded with nature and when Mark looked on the floor he could only just see the path which had roots and rocks sticking out of it making the mud uneven to walk on. Every now and then Mark would get caught on a branch sticking out and would have to untangle himself hoping that his mentor did not see. At one point Will did turn round just as Mark freed himself from the branches grasp and Mark instantly felt his cheeks colour with embarrassment. He tried to cover it up by wiping his face to cover his red cheeks but Will saw through it but was kind enough to not point it out.

Marks curiosity was building up and he was about to ask Will another question not being able to hold it in when they turned a bend. Mark past the tree blocking his view and saw a cabin. There was a big stable next to it with a fence surrounding it. Mark could hear the neighing of several horses that were in the stables and when he listened harder he could hear the faint voice of a person telling the horses that he understood. Mark was about to ask why they were here when an old man walked out of the stables. He was old very old his hair was white and so was his beard. "Ah ranger Will" he croaked.

"Old Bob" Will smiled and looked into the stables looking for something.

"You're looking for Tug. Don't worry he's been well looked after so is the other horse you requested. And what is your apprentice's name?" Old Bob said looking in the direction that Will was.

"His name is Mark and I'm sure they have been looked after well" Will watched as old Bob walked of in the direction of the stables. When he returned he had two horses following behind him. The taller one out of the two ran over to Will and nudged its nose up against Wills shoulder. Will patted the horses neck and fed him an apple which the horse delightedly chewed on.

"This is your horse Mark his name is Bolt." Mark looked at the horse in front of him. Bolt's coat was a dark grey. On his back were paler patches of grey and the bottom of his legs were also a pale grey. The horse looked at him. _Where is my apple?_ his eyes seemed to say. Mark put his hand in the apple barrel and asked old Bob if he could feed Bolt an apple.

"He's your horse now. Yeh can feed him one if you want just make sure you don't feed him to many or else he won't be healthy" said Old Bob. Mark fed Bolt an apple and stroked his grey mane.

"Can I ride him?" asked Mark

"If you think that's a good idea" said Old Bob smiling. Mark looked at Bob and then at Will. They were both smiling at him. Something wasn't right but Mark was too eager to ride his horse to ask any questions. He put his foot in the stirrup and then pulled himself up onto Bolt's back. Before Mark had even got comfortable on his horse he was thrown over its head and onto the hard ground. He coughed as dust flew up around him.

"Ahh! That hurt" Mark said feeling his back for any broken bones. He looked at Bolt and scowled at him. Mark knew it was pointless because the horse couldn't respond back to him but he was embarrassed and in pain and he wasn't going to stand there and be happy about it and pretend nothing had happened. _Don't look at me like that it's not my fault_ was what Mark imagined his horse saying as it stared at him with an innocent look on its face.

"Why will he not let me ride him?" Mark looked questioningly at Old Bob. Old Bob looked at him and then at Will. No matter how hard Will tried he couldn't hold back his laughter because he had done the exact same thing when he was an apprentice. Will looked at Old Bob and they both started laughing whilst Mark scowled at them both.

"It's not that funny" Mark said. His cheeks were now bright red and they were getting redder with every second that past. Mark could feel his cheeks getting hotter so he turned away from Will and Old Bob and looked back at his horse. Bolt was standing in the exact position Mark had left him in. Mark looked at Bolt. Was there something he had missed? Had he done something wrong? He looked Bolt up and down as if he would see the answer stuck to Bolt somewhere.

"You need to tell him the password" Old Bob stated.

"The password?" Mark looked at Old Bob

"Yes every ranger horse needs to be told the password before the ranger can ride them." Mark looked at Old Bob and then back to Will. Mark noticed that Will had a straight face which raised Marks suspicions on whether they were tricking him or not. After all they found him falling of the horse very amusing.

"You whisper the password in Bolts ear and then he will let you ride him. Ranger horses are trained to do lots of different things which im sure Will will teach you more about. They are trained to not let anyone ride them until they have said the password then they can't be stolen."

"OK" Mark said not entirely sure whether to believe Old Bob or not. He seemed a very honest man but then he had let Mark climb onto Bolt before. "So what's Bolts password?" he asked.

"The password for Bolt is 'Could you let me'" Old Bob said gesturing for Mark to have a go. Mark looked at Bob and then at Will who was also telling him to do it. Mark turned to Bolt and walked up to his ear.

"Could you let me" he whispered into Bolt's ear. The horse shook its head as if it understood what Mark was saying. Actually it did understand what Mark was saying because when Mark climbed onto him Bolt let him sit on him.

"Now you can ride him" Old Bob said. Mark nodded. He was a little nervous as he had only ever rode a horse once and that had gone terribly wrong. He had come off the horse and was limping for days and he didn't want to do that again today especially in front of Will and Old Bob.

"Why is he called Bolt?" asked Mark as he rode Bolt at a slow trot.

"He's called Bolt..." Bob didn't finish his sentence because as he spoke Bolt sped into the distance at full speed. Mark nearly lost his grip as Bolt had suddenly galloped at full speed. He quickly grabbed hold of Bolts reigns and pulled up on the reigns. Bolt was still going fast but not as fast as before.

"That's why he's called Bolt" Mark said to himself. The wind blew his brown hair back of his face and his cloak flew out behind him. Bolt was heading for a group of trees and suddenly just as they were about to collide with them Bolt turned and headed back for Will and Bob. They came to a stop when they got to Will and Bob and Bolt stopped suddenly letting Mark climb of onto the ground.

"How was that?" asked Will.

"It was great" Mark said smiling. He stroked Bolt and the horse shook its mane.

"He's called Bolt because he can be very fast and anyone chasing you won't expect it because he can go from being at a walk and bolt into a run. He is faster than most horses that I have had here" Old Bob said finishing of his sentence. Old Bob showed Mark how to look after Bolt and by the time they finished it was two o'clock. Will and Mark stayed at Old Bobs home and had a small lunch before heading back to Wills cabin.

**-LINE BREAK-**

Mark and Will went and put their horses away in the stables and found that there was three horses already in there instead of two. Next to Arianna's horse was a small grey horse that was a little taller than Tug.

"Halt?" said Will almost to himself. He put Tug in the stables and let Mark do the same with Bolt. He then walked around to the front of the house and walked in. Mark walked in and could smell the strong aroma of coffee which he had got so used to smelling since he had become an apprentice. He looked around the house and saw Alyss, Arianna and another man sitting at the table. The man wore a rangers cloak and Mark could just make out the hilt of a Saxe knife protruding from behind the cloak. He was a small man and his hair was short and grey. He had a beard which was just as grey as his hair and he had his hand resting on his bow which was leaning against his leg. The man looked at Mark and Will as they walked over to the table.

"It's nice of you to join us Will." Will smiled at his old mentor's comment knowing that Halt was joking.

"What brings you here Halt?" Will asked pulling out a chair and sitting down. He poured himself a cup of coffee and put a large spoonful of honey in it. He passed the pot of coffee to Mark who sat down at the table.

"Thanks" Mark mumbled. Whenever he met knew people he went quiet. He had met Halt before when Will had found him and his sister. As he poured himself some coffee he realised that Halt was the ranger he had knocked into a couple of weeks ago.

"I have just come to see how you and Mark are getting on. After all the gathering is in two weeks" Halt said taking a large sip of his coffee.

"He's getting on well. He will be ready for the rangers gathering and he should be able to get his bronze oak leaf." Mark listened to what Will had to say about him and could feel himself going red. He quickly leant on his hands to hide the colour of his cheeks.

"So what where you and Mark doing?" Halt asked Will.

"We were getting Mark his horse."

"Can I see him?" Arianna said eagerly. Mark nodded and she ran out of the house. By the time Mark had got up from his chair Arianna had already gone through the door. She poked her head round the corner and told him to hurry up and then she was gone again before Mark could answer. He rushed out the door after Arianna and saw her waiting at the stables. When Mark caught up with her she went in. "Can I stroke him? What's his name?" she asked

"Yeh you can and his name is Bolt." Mark watched her as she stroked Bolt. Bolt closed his eyes and then opened them when she stopped.

"Do you talk to your horse?" Mark looked at Arianna who was looking back at him.

"What?" he said not knowing if he had heard her properly.

"Do you talk to Bolt? My dad does and so does Granddad Halt" Arianna said looking at Mark.

"No I don't, but I've only just got him." Arianna looked at Mark and pointed to the apple barrel. Mark nodded his head and she picked one up and fed it to Bolt. She walked over to a small bench near the door leading out of the stables. Mark went and sat down with Arianna.

"What's it like being a ranger?" Arianna looked at Mark.

"Well im not actually a ranger yet im only a ranger apprentice."

"I know but is it good?"

"It's fun but its hard work" Mark said. He looked at Arianna. He got on well with Arianna even though she was so much younger than him. When he came here he didn't really talk to her but as he got to know her they had become good friends. It was the same with Arianna at first she hadn't liked Mark because she felt that Will didn't spend as much time with her but she enjoyed having someone that was closer to her age around the house and she had also got to like Mark when she got to know him.

Mark left Arianna with the horses and went and practised with his throwing knife. He hit the target but it still wasn't on the bulls eye. He sighed and thought back to what Will had said on the first day of his apprenticeship. Will had told him that he would be tested and if he was good enough he would get his bronze oak leaf.

"Am I good enough?" he asked himself and he sighed again.

**Did you like it? Please let me know as it did take me longer to write I had writers block for a while so Im sorry. I don't know what to put in the next chapter so if you have got any ideas let me know and I will give you credit if I use it.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello again! I have uploaded two chapters so I hope you like them both. I know I said I would upload on a Saturday but I decided I wouldn't have a set date in case I didn't have time to write a chapter. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own rangers apprentice and I never have. It all belongs to John Flanagan except for my characters.**

Mark sat looking at the grass below him. He was sat in a small three with his cloak hanging next to him. He looked around the small clearing and could just make out Arianna walking into the stables. She walked out again with a puzzled look on her face, she was sure she had checked everywhere but she still couldn't find him. Mark laughed, he was playing hide and seek with Arianna and he had been sat in the tree for about ten minutes. He had only climbed a couple of branches into the tree so that Arianna could still see him. He had even taken off his cloak so that he wouldn't blend into the forest behind him.

"Mark! Mark!" he heard Arianna shout. She was looking everywhere except up. No one ever looked up. They looked left, right and down but never up.

"Mark, Where are you?" Mark could hear her shouting. He was surprised Alyss hadn't come out yet wondering what was going on, but then she was very busy doing things for the diplomatic service. How had he got to sitting to sitting in the most uncomfortable tree in the world waiting for a ten year old girl to find him? He thought for a moment. Will had given him the day of and he had gone out with his friends. He waited at the gate to Redmont castle for Joe and Tom and then they had gone off into the village. They had walked around the village showing each other what they had learnt in their crafts and how much the liked it.

Joe and Tom had both changed since Mark had become apprenticed to Will. They had all grown taller, which was to be expected as they were all growing boys. Joe had gotten stronger and looked more muscular than before and he said that, "When you went on runs up hills with rocks on your back and swung a sword around all day I wasn't expecting to not become stronger. In fact I would be slightly disappointed if I didn't."

Tom had grown up and was more mature than before but he became his childish self when he had spent a few minutes with Mark and Joe. Mark also noticed that Tom smelt a little of horse poop, but then he did work with horses all day. Tom also had a yellow-green bruise on his right arm which was in the shape of a horse shoe. Luckily he hadn't broken anything but he couldn't use his right arm very well.

Mark had also changed. Now he was a lot stronger and not the stick he was before. He had also become very nimble and extremely sneaky. He had even decided to jump out on Joe and Tom when they were at the gate and he had scared both of them half to death. At three o'clock he headed back to the cottage to find Arianna pestering Alyss to play with her but Alyss as she was doing some work for Lady Pauline. Arianna turned round in time to catch Mark walking through the door and she asked him to play with her. Mark had said yes and now he was up a tree with a branch digging into his back.

He looked out at the cottage, he could see the stables and the archery range but he couldn't see Arianna. He scanned all over the clearing but Arianna definitely wasn't there. What if she had fallen over and hurt herself? Or what if someone had taken her? Mark quickly expelled the thoughts from his mind. No she was only tricking him. She had seen him and decided to hide herself. He looked out at the clearing again and looked at all the spots to hide. She wasn't there and he was starting to get really nervous. He got ready to jump down from the tree when he felt a pair of hands on his back and someone shouted 'Boo' in his ear. Mark lost his grip on the tree and fell to the ground. He looked up at the tree and let out a sigh and a laugh of relief at the same time. Arianna was looking down at him.

"Don't do that" he said.

"Do what?"

"Scare me like that!" he said as he stood up brushing himself off. "I thought you had hurt yourself"

"Sorry. I didn't know it would scare you so much."

"No I am sorry, you just scared me. I don't think your dad would be happy if you got lost or you got hurt." Mark looked at Arianna.

"Are you all right?" Arianna asked as she looked at Mark up and down.

"Yeah im fine"

"No you're not! You're bleeding! I'll go get mum." With that she ran off to the house.

"Arianna stop. It's just a scratch." He walked off after her limping slightly. Maybe it wasn't a scratch he thought. Alyss fussed over him. She liked Mark, he was a good boy and from what she could tell he was a good apprentice. She cleaned up his knee to stop it getting infected and then bandaged it up to stop the bleeding. There was quite a bit of blood.

"What happened?" she asked as she washed the bowl of water she had used to clean Marks leg.

"Nothing I just fell over, that's all." Alyss looked at Mark for a few seconds. She could tell that wasn't everything but left it as it was. She could tell that Mark didn't want to talk about it and she wasn't going to push him.

"I think I might go to my room." Mark stood up and went into his bedroom closing the door behind him. He limped over to his desk and pulled a map out of the draw. He laid it flat on his bed and looked at it concentration written all over his face.

The map Mark was looking at was a map of Araluen. It was a very simple map and showed the main fiefs in Araluen. It showed the rivers in Araluen and all the main points like the Solitary Plain and Thorntree forest. Mark remembered where the Tarbus River was because it was the closest river to Redmont. At the top of the map it showed Picta and its border and at the bottom in showed Celtica and its border. At the bottom it also showed Morgarath's Plateau. Mark didn't know much about Morgarath because Morgarath died before Mark was born, but he did know that Morgarath had started a war against Araluen. Will had also told him that Morgarath had got the Skandians involved too.

Will had given Mark the map to learn all of the main points and places in Araluen. Mark found it a little boring but he studied it any way when he had nothing to do. He did this because he knew that he needed to know the main parts in Araluen when he was a ranger. As he was looking at the map he heard Will open the door and come into the house, he then he heard Arianna run up and shout Daddy. Mark looked back at the map. In the middle was a fief called Gorlan. Whenever he wanted to ask Will about it he was never here. He quickly got up regretting it as pain shot through his leg. He winced and limped over to his bedroom door. Will was sitting at the table with Arianna on his lap.

"Hello Mark" Will said looking up at his apprentice.

"Hi. I was wondering what Gorlan fief is. I've never heard of it." Mark sat down at the table to take the weight of his leg.

"Ok, remember the first day you became my apprentice I told you about Morgarath and that he tried to take over Araluen twice." Will looked at Mark to see if he remembered.

"Yeah my granddad fought in the first battle." Mark smiled as he thought about his family. "He lived in Araluen for a while."

"My dad fought in that battle too" Will said. There was a silence as Will and Mark thought about their family. "Anyway Morgarath was the Baron of Gorlan until King Duncan became king. The castle is in ruins now."

"Ok" Mark started to walk back to his room but was stopped by Will.

"What happened to your leg?" Mark sighed he had hoped Will wouldn't notice.

"Oh I fell over." Mark hoped Will wouldn't ask any more questions but knew he would. He turned round and saw that Will had one eyebrow raised. "I.."

"I had asked Mark to play hide and seek with me and he said yes." Arianna quickly said before Mark could say any more. "Then I was hiding up a tree and Mark found me so he climbed up to get me but then I slipped and Mark stopped me falling but he fell out himself." Will looked at them both. Arianna had spoke so fast that it took him a while to figure out what she had said.

"Thank you Mark, Arianna you should be more careful. Next time don't climb any trees."

"Ok dad." She looked down at the ground. At first Mark thought she was pretending to be sad but then he realised that she was actually smiling and trying to not let her dad see.

"Well I should go back to my room," Mark said before turning round and limping to his room. He went and sat back on his bed and looked at the map. Ten minutes later he heard a knock on his door. He got up and opened it expecting it to be Will. He was a little shocked to find Arianna waiting patiently at his door. He let her in and then went and sat back on his bed.

"I'm sorry about you hurting your leg" she said.

"Don't worry you didn't know I would fall out of the tree." Mark smiled as he said this. In all his life he had never fallen out of a tree but he did now because a ten year old had scared him. "Why did you tell your dad that?"

"Well you have been an apprentice ranger for a while now, I didn't think you would really want to tell my dad that a ten year old girl had crept up on you and scared you. I could tell that you were thinking about something at the time and I didn't think you would want to tell my dad that you were weren't paying attention to the things around you. I didn't want you to get in trouble with him." Mark looked at her and smiled.

"Thanks, but you didn't need to lie to your dad for me" Mark said.

"I didn't lie really. Everything did happen but it was just the other way round." Arianna stopped for a second considering whether to say what she wanted to next. "You are like a brother to me." Mark stopped what he was doing to look up at her and smile.

**Did you like it? I know not much happened in this chapter but I wanted to concentrate on Mark and Arianna's friendship. The idea of Mark falling out a tree was given to me by Alex the Rogue thank you, although I don't really know how I got the rest of the chapter from that. Thank you to everyone that reviewed my last chapter ****Hibernia12****, Alex the Rogue, AmazingWriter123, AriannaTheRanger and Lorrie the Ninja Elf. **


	9. Chapter 9

**Just to let you know that the writing in bold and **_**italics**_** is Marks dream/memory. I hope you like it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own rangers apprentice.**

It was midnight and Mark lay in bed. He was sleeping but it wasn't very peaceful. There were beads of sweat on his face and his hair was plastered to his forehead. He moved about in his sleep and his blankets had fallen of him into a heap on the flaw long ago, due to his fast stiff movements. He was having a nightmare which sadly was a memory.

_**It was nine o'clock at night and Mark was outside the back of his house. He pulled back the string of the bow and fired an arrow aiming at a tree. It flew past the tree he was aiming at and flew off into the field ahead of him. Two arrows were planted firmly in the tree out of the five he had shot. The others had flown of into the field and planted themselves into the soft mud. On the first couple of days that the arrows had been hitting the tree they had made a loud thud as they went into the bark. Mark had winced every time hoping that his parents hadn't heard him. If they found him outside now he would be in a lot of trouble.**__**Mark had gathered hay and straw and then tied it together on the tree to muffle the sounds of the arrow making contact with it. Mark fired the last arrow at the tree and it hit the hay. He smiled and walked over to it, he pulled out the three arrows that were in the tree then traipsed into the field to collect the remaining arrows. He could just make out the arrows sticking out the ground. He pulled them out of the ground and walked back to where he had been standing before. He fired another arrow when he heard a shout from the door of his home. His parents had heard him. **_

"_**Mark get in here now." Mark ran into the house like his mum told him knowing that he was going to be told off. Mark stopped and thought for a moment, her voice seemed more panicky than angry. His mum was rushing around the house and she ran into Molly's room. Mark hardly saw his mum run. He could hear his mum waking Molly up and getting her out of bed.**_

"_**Mum, what are you doing?" he asked. Mark started to worry, his mum would never wake his sister up at this time. "Mum?" **_

"_**Mark help me pack some food." Mark turned round and saw his dad. He ran over to the cupboard and got out the bread. He passed it to his dad and ran back to the cupboard to get more food.**_

"_**What's happening?" he asked as his dad threw a cloak over to him and told him to put it on.**_

"_**Bandits are attacking the village. You need to get your sister out of here. Get as far away from the village as possible, do you understand?" Mark looked at his dad who grabbed him by the shoulders. "Do you understand?"**_

"_**Yes, yes I understand, but aren't you coming with us?" Mark looked his dad in the eye. Mark's dad knelt down and pulled Mark into a tight hug.**_

"_**Look there will be a greater chance for you and Molly to get out of the village alive if me and your mum don't go with you. You and Molly are smaller and you will be quieter on your own. I trust you to look after your sister and get her out of here, I know you will be able to." Mark's dad looked at Mark, there were tears in his eyes and Mark could feel his eyes burning as he realised that he wouldn't see his parents again. Mark started to cry.**_

"_**I don't want to leave you. I can't go." Mark was pulled into another hug by his dad.**_

"_**Mark you have to go. Promise me that you will look after your sister."**_

"_**I will look after her, I promise I will." Mark buried his face into his dads. Molly walked out of her room with his mum right behind her. Molly's face was tear stained and her eyes were red raw. Mark quickly wiped the tears away. Molly and Mark's mum walked over. He hugged his mum tightly.**_

"_**I will look after her" he said to his mum.**_

"_**I know you will" she kissed Mark and gave him the bag with the food. "I know you will, now go." Mark nodded his head. **_

"_**We love you both always remember that. No matter how much we have shouted at you we have always loved you and you never forget that" said Marks dad as he placed a dagger in Marks hand. It was small but it was better than nothing if he needed it. Mark took it and placed it in his belt.**_

"_**I love you both too." He grabbed Molly's hand and pulled her towards the door. Molly got out of his grip and ran over to her mum and dad and hugged them.**_

"_**I love you mum, I love you dad." She cried into her parents arms. Mark could feel tears rolling down his face. **_

"_**We love you both" Mark's mum said. "Now go, go." Mark ran over to his little sister and grabbed her hand. He knew what he had to do. His mind was telling him to run and get his sister to safety but his heart was telling him to stay with his parents. He followed his mind no matter how much it hurt him and pulled his sister out the door. All around him he could hear screaming and shouting as people ran for their lives. He pulled his sister towards the forest to the only safe haven he could think of. If they were in the trees it would be harder for someone to follow. His sister slipped and fell on the ground. He picked her up to see if she was alright. She hadn't hurt anything. Quickly he pulled his sister behind him as a bandit swiped his sword at her. It missed her and he pushed her behind a tree. The bandit swung the sword again and this time Mark wasn't so lucky. The sword caught his leg and sliced into the skin. Mark let out a yell of pain and fell to the ground. Mark could fell the blood dripping down his leg, he could feel the fear building in him. He didn't want to die, not like this. The bandit was about to lunge into Mark with the sword when he was pushed to the side. The bandit fell to the floor. Mark looked over at who had just saved his life. It was a stranger, Mark had seen him in the village but never talked to him. He didn't even know the man yet the man had saved his life.**_

"_**GO, Run!" the man shouted. Mark smiled his thanks at the man and then grabbed his sister from behind the tree and ran for the forest line. He turned round and took a quick glance at the village he called home. Many of the houses were on fire. **_

_**His house was on fire. **_

Mark sat up in his bed. He was gasping for breath as if he had been running for miles. His wiped the sweat from his eyes and wiped his wet hair of his face. The top of his shirt was wet and so was his cushion. Mark walked over to his desk and pulled out a small dagger.

"I miss you."

It was the only thing that he had left of his parents except for memories. He let the tears fall down his face. He remembered talking to his sister that night when they were hiding in the forest. He had told her that he would get her to safety and that he would let no harm come to her. He smiled, he had done that, he had kept the promise he had made to his parents. There were a lot of things that he hadn't told Will. He hadn't told Will about the knife which he had hid in his boot when he had first seen Will and he had done his best to cover up the wound on his leg. If Will and Halt had seen it then they would have asked questions and he hadn't wanted to talk about it at the time, he still didn't. He didn't think he would ever want to talk about it. He put the dagger back in the draw and went and sat on his bed. He sat next to the window and stared out of it. He wasn't tired anymore even though it was midnight and he didn't think he would get any sleep for the rest of the night even if he tried.

**I hope you liked the two chapters. Let me know what you think about it and if something is wrong like grammar or spelling as it will improve my writing.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi, I'm sorry that this has taken me so long to do I have been on holiday and not had much free time also this chapter is a longer than my others. Anyway I will let you get on with reading the chapter. I will see you at the end of the chapter, good bye for now. **

Mark sat up a tree. It was the same tree he had fallen out of a week ago. He subconsciously rubbed the cut on his leg as he thought about this. Luckily it didn't hurt anymore and he didn't limp when he walked because tomorrow was the ranger gathering. It was his first gathering and hopefully not his last. He looked down at the grass. They were setting out to the gathering today so they would get there tomorrow at about midday. Will and Mark were waiting for Halt as the three of them would travel to the gathering ground together. Will was inside with Alyss and Arianna waiting for Halt but Mark had decided he would go and sit outside. Whenever Mark needed time to think he would go and sit in this tree, but not on the low branches like a week ago. He sat high in the tree so that leaves on the branches would hide him with or without his ranger cloak.

Mark reached up to the branch above him. He pulled on it so that he was in a standing in a position. He looked out of a small gap in the leaves, he could see Castle Redmont sitting high on the hill and at the bottom was Redmont's village. Mark could see Halt riding Abelard, he was riding through the village on his way to the cabin and Mark realised that he only had a few minutes until they would be leaving for the gathering. He climbed down a few branches so that he wasn't as high in the tree. He could just hear the faint thudding as Abelard's hooves made contact with the hard mud. If you asked Mark why he did what he did next he wouldn't be able to tell you. He jumped out of the tree and let his legs collapse so that he rolled forwards when he hit the ground.

"What are you doing Mark?" Halt asked sitting on Abelard. He didn't even seem fazed that a boy had just jumped in front of him from a tree. Mark stood up and looked at Halt.

"I don't actually know" Mark said. One minute he was in the tree and the next minute he had jumped out in front Halt. Halt looked at Mark from under his cloak. He hadn't shown it but he had been a little shocked at Mark. He knew Mark was in the tree but hadn't expected him to jump from it. Halt raised his eyebrow and then rode towards the house. Mark let out a breath he didn't even realise he was holding. He smiled, that was the most awkward moment he had ever been in it was also the funniest moment as well he thought. He turned round and saw that Halt was walking into the cabin. Mark followed as he had nothing to do. He went into the house, Halt and Will were sitting around the table and Alyss and Arianna were in the kitchen. Alyss seemed to be trying to teach Arianna to cook, which seemed to be failing miserably as Arianna seemed to be having a staring contest with Ebony. When Mark closed the door he turned to look at Halt and Will. Will looked at Mark with one eyebrow raised. Halt must have told him about what Mark had done outside. Mark walked over to them acting if nothing had happened.

"Why did you jump out at Halt?" Mark looked at Will and shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know" he said helping himself to some coffee. "Why?"

"Just wondering, I don't know any sane person who would jump out in front of Halt." Will looked at the grey bearded ranger.

"Yes well Mark proved that he wasn't sane when he accepted being an apprentice to you" Halt said. There was an evil glint in his eyes. Will smiled at Halt but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

"That is very funny Halt. Why don't you quit being a Ranger and go become a Jongleur instead, the people would love you" Will said sarcastically.

"I would but you have already accomplished that. I think you were so bad that you had your Lute destroyed." Mark looked at Halt and Will. He had noticed that Will and Halt were always taking the mick out of each other and Mark realised that he would be a part of it in time as well. Will opened his mouth to speak and then closed it. Halt knew what he was going to say, it would have been along the lines of It's not a Lute it's a Mandola there's more strings on it than a Lute. Obviously Halt knew this after the long years of him getting it wrong and Will correcting him, but Halt found it funny when Will got so fussed over it. Will glared at Halt. Will had not wanted to go under cover as a Jongleur but Halt and Crowley had insisted.

"You know what I have noticed" Halt said almost to himself to change the subject.

"I dread to think" Will said casually wishing that Halt couldn't speak.

"I have noticed that you hardly cook any more now that you are married to Alyss."

"I do cook, don't I Mark?" Why had they got him into the argument he had nothing wrong. Halt and Will looked at him. He was probably more scared of Halt but then Will was his mentor for the next five years.

"I think they cook the same amount. I don't really keep count of who cooks when." Halt raised one eyebrow.

"And my cooking is still far better than yours." Will added trying to annoy his friend.

"Yes, that's about the only thing your good at and that also means that you are good at something that more women do than men" Halt had an evil smile on his face. This made Alyss turn around.

"I wouldn't say that it is just for women" Alyss said glaring at Mark.

"It must be if Halt cooks it." Will grunted and bent down to rub his leg. He glared and Halt and kicked him back. Halt glared at Will.

"When are we going to the gathering?" Mark asked changing the subject from cooking.

"Well if you're ready we can go now" Will said still rubbing his leg. Mark nodded his head and went and got the things he needed. He walked out into the stables and saddled up Bolt. He waited for Will and Halt to come outside and then he climbed onto Bolts back. Just as they were about to set off Arianna and Alyss came out to say good bye.

"Bye dad, Bye Mark, Bye Halt!" she shouted to them and Ebony chorused Arianna's goodbyes with a loud bark. Alyss just waved to them and smiled.

**-LINE BREAK-**

"Gilan is here" Halt said. "Does he know you have an apprentice Will?"

"No, I was going to tell him at the gathering." Will said.

"Who is Gilan? and how do you know he is here?" Mark looked at his mentor.

"You are just like Will asking more than one question at a time. Gilan was my apprentice before Will and you can tell he is here because if you listen you can hear his horses matching the rhythm of our horse's footsteps. Mark listened carefully. Halt was right, he could just make out another horse.

"I can only just hear them." He looked at Halt smiling.

"You said Gilan that doesn't know you had an apprentice right Will?" Will nodded. "Good, Mark jump off to the side of the road and wait until he has passed us then follow. Me and Will will act as if nothing is happening." Mark nodded and jumped of Bolt onto the grass on the side of the road. He then climbed into a tree and waited. As soon as Mark had jumped off, Bolt dug his hooves into the ground making it look like he was carrying more weight than he really was.

Mark waited up in the tree not moving. He looked around, his eyes scanned near him then further away from him but his head never moved. A horse and rider crested the small hill and Mark waited for him to pass. Mark wasn't completely sure if this was Gilan as their seemed to be another horse with him following obediently behind. Also the person had a sword at his waist which Mark knew wasn't a rangers weapon. Mark decided to follow the man, humping from tree to tree. He went from one to another keeping his eye on Gilan, when he thought he saw something out the corner of his eye. He acted as if he didn't see anything and walked through the tree then he saw it again. He turned round and came face to face with another boy in the tree he had just come from. Well he thought it was a boy but the cloak shadowed his face so that no one could tell who he was. Mark looked slightly to his left and could see that the ranger with the sword was still on his horse. The boy pulled the cowl of his cloak down and jumped into the tree Mark was in. He had jet black hair and dark blue eyes.

"Who are you?" Mark asked, his hand moved to the handle of his Saxe knife that was at his side.

"I'm Kyle, Ranger Gilan's new apprentice. Who are you?" he asked in a friendly but slightly demanding voice.

"Mark, Ranger Will's new apprentice" Mark replied in the same manor, he looked at the boy and the boy looked back. They sat in the tree for a while in complete silence studying the person opposite them. The only sounds where the blowing of the wind, which blew Mark and Kyle's hair back, and the distant clopping of the two horses Mark had just seen. The sound of the horse's hooves on the mud track were starting to fade and Mark could hardly hear them anymore them.

"Gilan never told me that Will had a new apprentice" said Kyle breaking the silence. "He wanted to distract Will and Halt so that I could jump out on them." Kyle looked in the distance. He could see that Gilan had just caught up with Will and Halt.

"I was never told that Gilan had an apprentice, they wanted me to do the same" Mark said.

"Well, then I guess we are both imposters." Kyle smiled as he said this to show he was joking. Mark smiled at what Kyle had said, he was very funny and easy to talk to. "Maybe we should go now and jump out on them acting like nothing happened" Kyle continued. There was a mischievous smile appearing on his face.

"I think that would be a great idea, we can show them that they are far too old to be playing tricks on each other." Mark had the same smile appearing on his face at the thought of being on top of his mentor. We could be friends Mark thought to himself not knowing that Kyle was thinking the same thing. Kyle pulled back the hood of his cloak over his head so that his face was in shadow and the two apprentices set of through the trees to scare their mentors. Mark grabbed Kyle's arm to stop him. Kyle turned round to look at Mark.

"I've had a better idea. You jump down in front of Gilan pretending to be me and then take your hood off" Mark said Kyle looked at him with a very confused expression on his face. Mark smiled "everyone will be expecting it to be me. Then you act as if you don't know who I am and that you haven't met anyone called Mark before and then I will jump out and hopefully scare them all." Mark looked at Kyle to see if he agreed. Kyle nodded, his mischievous grin returning to his face

"Then we will have scared all of them twice, I like that idea. You do know that they will probably figure out that there are two of us?" he said.

"Yeah" Mark rethought his plan quickly thinking about what Kyle had just pointed out "They will probably realise too late." Mark said not being able to think of anything to stop the problem of them realising. He just hoped he was right as he really wanted to trick his mentor. Mark jumped into the next tree with Kyle following behind him. They jumped into another five trees and then they stopped. Mark and Kyle crawled across a branch so that they were both above their mentors and Halt. All three of the rangers below them would have realise that there was someone in the tree above them, but all of them were expecting their apprentice to jump out on their friend, they were not expecting there to be two apprentices in the tree. Kyle got ready to jump out on his mentor. He made sure that he was comfortable and they he would land the jump right. He jumped out the tree landing on the ground in front of Gilan. Dust flew up around the small group below Mark. Mark could feel the dust getting to the back of his throat and wanted to cough but he knew that if he did then he would definitely blow his cover. That was if they didn't know that he was above them.

"Kyle you weren't meant to jump in front of me" Gilan coughed. Kyle looked at Gilan and then at Will and Halt.

"Oh that makes more sense now." Kyle thought that it was best to act stupid as he hadn't actually thought about what he was going to say to his mentor when he had jumped out of the tree. "I thought you wanted me to jump out on you to see if I could get to you without you noticing" Kyle said looking back at Gilan. Kyle heard Halt mutter something behind him about apprentices only half listening and that they needed to unblock their ears. Mark looked at Kyle from the tree, he was really good at acting.

"Kyle!" Will said "No that's Mark. Where's Mark?"

"Who's Mark?" Gilan and Kyle asked at the same time.

"He's my apprentice. Did you see anyone else up in the tree's with you?" Will asked looking at the trees in the distance.

"No, I don't know anyone called Mark. Although I did hear someone shout in front of me but I thought it was Gilan getting your attention." Kyle looked apologetically at Will. He could feel the smile trying to show its self on his face.

"Why would I call for them, I was trying to sneak up on them too" Gilan said. He turned to Will and put a reassuring arm on his friends shoulder. "Don't worry Will, he probably just fell out of a tree back up the path." Mark looked down at the three rangers. He was pretty sure that Gilan and Will had fallen for the trick and he felt kind of bad for Will, who seemed genuinely scared for him but he didn't know if Halt had fallen for their trick. I guess time will tell he thought before he jumped out the tree and landed next to Kyle. The rangers jumped at the sight of another person coming out of the tree. As Mark landed more dust flew into the air making them all cough.

"You two were in on it together weren't you?" Gilan asked as he realised what the fifteen year olds had done. "You knew that we were all expecting our own apprentice to jump out of the tree to make the others jump, so we wouldn't realise there were two of you up there." The two apprentices smiled. Their plan had worked maybe on Gilan and Will, they still were not sure if it had worked on Halt.

"I knew they were both there" Halt said as if everyone else was stupid. Gilan and Will raised one eyebrow at their former mentor.

"Well done, that was the sought of thing I was doing when I was apprenticed to Halt, but none of the plans actually worked because I needed someone else to help." Gilan said smiling at his apprentice.

"Yes it could be that but I think it was more the fact that you didn't have a big enough brain capacity to think the entire plan through" Halt said looking at Gilan. Kyle and Mark looked around at the rangers. Gilan had his eye brow raised again, Halt was as emotionless as always and Will was looking at them with the death glare. Mark couldn't help feeling slightly scared as Will carried on looking at them.

"Well look on the Brightside, at least you got Will to be quiet" Halt said patting Will on the shoulder. Will turned his death glare onto Halt who raised one eyebrow at him, he was clearly not fazed by Will glaring at him.

"You do know that I am not afraid of you and you are more afraid of me." Halt said without a trace of a smile on his face. Mark climbed onto Bolt and Kyle climbed onto his horse Sky. All five of them rode the rest of the way to the gathering together. This was Mark and Kyle's first gathering so they were both excited and nervous about it.

Halt, Gilan, Will, Mark and Kyle rode over the hill on their horses and looked at the gathering grounds at the bottom. There were small green tents everywhere and there was a larger one in the middle. They rode down the hill and got off their horses. Mark followed the others into the gathering grounds. All around him there were men in brown and green sitting around green tents. Outside every group of tents was a fire that had rangers sitting round it. Mark could smell the strong aroma of coffee every time he walked past a fire. Even after he had passed the fire he could still smell the coffee slightly. There was laughter as friends met friends and jokes were made. They found an area that was big enough for five tents and five horses, they all set up their tents and then Halt, Gilan and Will went to the commandant leaving Kyle and Mark to make a fire. Mark and Kyle collected some fire wood from the forest that surrounded the grounds. They got some dried leaves that would burn easier for kindling and built the fire. As they set it alight Mark busied himself making coffee, making sure that there was enough for the five of them. When the coffee was ready they both poured themselves a mug and put a spoonful of honey in it.

"I see Halt's habits have been passed further down in the generations." Mark and Kyle both turned round. A ranger with strawberry blonde hair was looking at them. "I am Crowley, Corps commandant" Crowley said sitting down with Kyle and Mark. Crowley gestured to the coffee that was on the fire and Mark nodded whilst Kyle gave him a mug. Crowley licked his lips as he poured himself some coffee into the mug. He took a satisfying sip and then sighed in delight at the taste.

"Does every ranger sigh when they have a sip of coffee?" Mark whispered to Kyle.

"It would seem so" Kyle said out the corner of his mouth. They didn't seem to realise that Crowley was listening in to their conversation.

"You two can make good coffee, so who is who's apprentice?" Mark being the shyer of the two let Kyle go first.

"I'm Kyle, Gilan's apprentice" he said shaking Crowley's hand.

"Mark, Wills apprentice." Mark shook Crowley's hand and smiled. Crowley had a strong grip which Mark guessed was from where Crowley was using a bow all day.

"Nice to meet you both, are you nervous about the test tomorrow?" he asked. They both nodded their heads. "Good." Crowley took another sip of the coffee and Mark heard another satisfying sigh.

"Good?" Mark asked not understanding what Crowley meant. He looked at Kyle and saw he was confused too. Good, I'm not being stupid Mark thought.

"Yes good. If you don't get nervous then that isn't to greater thing, for starters I would think you were both slightly full of your self's. It is good to be a little nervous, if you're too nervous you might mess up but a little could improve the way you act as you will be concentrating more on not messing up and would see more mistakes that you were doing." Crowley looked at the two apprentices in front of him. He could tell that they both understood. He drained the last of his coffee. "It was nice to meet you both but I better go people will probably be looking for me. Crowley got up to leave when Will, Halt and Gilan appeared.

"Your right about people looking for you" was all Halt said.

"We have been looking for you, we got to your tent and found you weren't there" Will said.

"Well I have been getting to know Mark and Kyle" Crowley said, "Come on we will go back there now." The four rangers left leaving Mark and Kyle on their own again. Mark got up and picked up his bow and arrows then walked off to the archery range calling for Kyle to come with him. The archery range was basically next to their camp, it was about ten metres away. They could still see their tents clearly whilst practising their shooting so if anyone tried to take something from there then they would see. Not that either of them expected someone too, they trusted the other rangers even though they didn't know most of them. Mark could hear the soft thud as arrows and knives went into the targets at the other end of the field. There was a hiss as Kyle pulled out his throwing knife.

"Whoever's knife gets closest to the centre pays the other three coins" Kyle said.

"Deal" Mark knew it wasn't the best idea as the throwing knife was his weakness but he wasn't going to say no. Kyle pulled back his arm and threw the knife at the target ahead of him. It wasn't in the bull's eye but it was in the ring around it. Mark sighed; this really wasn't a good idea. He pulled out his throwing knife and threw it at the target. There was a soft thud as the knife made contact. His knife hadn't hit the bull's eye either, it was about two centimetres further away than Kyle's.

"I win" Kyle said.

Mark looked at him "You're good. If I fire an arrow closer to the centre I don't have to pay you the money." Kyle nodded, he didn't mind if Mark did pay him or not it was just a bit of fun. Mark went first. He pulled back on the string of his bow and fired at the target. It hit the centre and Mark smiled, he then let Kyle have a go. Kyle hit the bull's eye too but because Marks was slightly closer to the middle of the target he didn't have to pay Kyle any money.

"Well done" Kyle said as they walked towards the target to retrieve their arrows. They practised for another hour and then took a break. They headed back to the tents and waited for the others to get back. When Will, Halt and Gilan got back they had tea, then Gilan went and practised with his bow, Halt followed him leaving Will with Mark and Kyle.

"What's it like having Will as your mentor?" asked Kyle.

"It's the same as it would be for you." Mark didn't understand why Kyle wanted to know.

"Well yeah but Will is a well known ranger isn't he. I mean like having Gilan as my mentor and if someone told me that I could change mentors I wouldn't want to, I was just wondering what it was like with Will after everything he has done." Kyle looked at Mark who was now very confused. "You don't know how well known he is do you?"

"No" Mark said honestly "I didn't grow up in Araluen"

"Oh, where are you from then?"

"Celtica, my village was attacked and Will and Halt found me and my sister." Mark said. "What is this about Will being well known?" Kyle was about to answer his friends question when they heard someone clear their throat behind them. Will was leaning against the tree behind them.

"How long have you been there?" asked Mark.

"I've been here the whole time you have been talking." They needed to work on their observational skills Will thought. They sat in silence again and then Mark asked Will what he had done as a ranger.

Will explained about the time he became a ranger and all about Morgarath and the Kalkara. Mark and Kyle sat and listened as if they were ten listening to a bed time story. Will then went on to explain about burning Morgarath's bridge and how he and Evanlyn/Cassandra were taken and sold as slaves in Skandia. Kyle had heard about Wills adventures before from villagers but he knew that they were usually far from the truth. When he heard it from Will he knew it was the truth.

"Is that why your second name is Treaty?" asked Mark.

"Yes, I got that name from Crowley when I became a ranger. No one knows my parents second name so I grew up without one." Will then carried on with what he had done up to going to Nihon-Ja to help Horace and the Emperor. Mark looked at his mentor. He didn't realise his mentor was so well known.

"You're famous" said Mark.

"Well I wouldn't say I am famous." Will felt his face redden at what the two boys were saying.

"Yeah you are. Everyone knows who you are" said Kyle backing up what his friend had said. Mark couldn't believe he didn't know any of what Will had just said. Will then spent another hour talking to Mark and Kyle about being a ranger and the sought of things you do on missions. Hearing all of this made Mark want to become a ranger even more. Halt and Gilan came back at about nine and they all went to sleep at ten.

Mark woke up and climbed out of his tent. Will, Halt and Gilan were outside already enjoying cups of coffee. Mark walked over to them and yawned. He took a mug of coffee from Will and smiled his appreciation. "Thanks" he said sitting up against a tree. Mark sat comfortably up against the tree for about half an hour before Kyle finally woke up. By that time all the coffee was gone except for a mug that Mark had kept for Kyle even though Halt strongly disagreed. "If he wanted coffee then he should have got up earlier" Halt had said.

"Yes but it would be unfair if we drank all of it and didn't leave him any. Anyway there are four of us, who would have it if we don't leave it for Kyle?" Gilan asked. Halt raised his arms as if it was obvious.

"Cause that's fair isn't it?" Will scoffed shaking his head at his former mentor.

Kyle walked over and sat between Gilan and Mark. Mark handed him the coffee, there had been many arguments over it most of them including Halt. Kyle took a sip and let out a deep sigh. Halt glared at him as Kyle took another sip. Halt carried on glaring at Kyle, Will could tell that Halt was making him uncomfortable. He elbowed Halt hard in the ribs, Halt turned his glare on Will. Now Will was starting to feel uncomfortable.

"Maybe Mark and Kyle should practise before they start of the test" Will said seeing if Gilan agreed. Gilan agreed and told them that they should probably practice the throwing knife and the bow as they were definitely going to be tested on them. Mark, Kyle, Gilan and Will got up and headed to the archery range.

"Are you going to come Halt?" Will said. Halt picked up a bucket of water and poured it over the fire and followed them to the archery range. They practised for an hour with the bow and then an hour with the knives. Will, Halt and Gilan watched their every move and corrected them whenever something was wrong. At midday a ranger walked over with two kids behind him. It was Meralon.

"It's time for the first part of their test. I am afraid you will have to go." Meralon watched as the three rangers did what they were told and walked back to their tents. "You must be Mark and Kyle this is Jake and Ben." He pointed to everyone as he said their names so that everyone knew who was who. Jake was small for his age like everyone else in the ranger corps beside Gilan. He had short brown hair and brown eyes. Ben had black hair that was slightly longer than Jakes. Ben was about average height for his age and had green eyes under his fringe which was covering them slightly. "Right you will be tested with your bow and throwing knife with me" Meralon said "Right Jake your first you fire ten arrows at the first target, you let me check them, then when I am safely out of the way you throw your knife at the target. I will then check that and then Ben you will do the same on the second target, Kyle on the third and Mark on the forth." He looked at the four nodding apprentices in front of him. "Good" he moved out of the way so that Jake could shoot. All of Jake's arrows went into the bull's eye or just outside of it and his knife was about three centimetres of. Meralon recorded what he saw on a piece of paper then let Ben go. Ben hit the bull's eye with his knife and most of the arrows were in it too. Kyle then went, his knife was better than before and hit the centre of the target. Seven of his arrows hit the bull's eye and three were very close around it.

Mark waited for Meralon to move out of the way and then fired his arrows in quick succession. He was relieved when the final one hit the target. Eight of them had hit the bull's eye and the furthest one from it was only two centimetres away. Meralon went and checked then recorded what he saw on the paper. He then moved to the side and let Mark throw the knife. Mark could feel his heart pumping. Out of everything he had been practising as an apprentice so far, he struggled with the throwing knife the most. He pulled it from its sheath and held it in front of him. He pulled his arm back and then forward releasing the knife from his hand as he did this. The knife went spinning across the field and slammed into the target with a pleasing thud. Mark smiled when he saw where it had landed. It wasn't on the bull's eye like Mark had wanted but it was very close. It was the best he had done so far and he had done it on the day he needed to the most. Meralon recorded what he saw again and then looked at the apprentices.

"Right you can collect your arrows and knife and then you can go back to your tents. At two go to that commandant tent and wait there." Meralon walked off in the direction of the commandant tent. They had all done well. He gave Crowley the paper with the notes on and told his views on the apprentices. He then left and went back to his own tent.

At two Mark and Kyle walked over to the commandant tent. Ben and Jake were already there talking about what they thought the last part of the test would be. "I think it will be fighting" Ben said.

"Maybe, it could be unseen movement though."Jake turned round and saw Mark and Kyle "Hey"

"Hi" Mark said walking over to them. "Do you know what the last bit of the test is? Do you know who will be taking it?" he asked smiling.

"I will be taking the test and it is on unseen movement" said a voice from inside the commandant tent. Mark, Ben, Jake and Kyle turned to look at the entrance to the tent. Crowley walked out in the green and browns of the ranger uniform. He had the hood of his cloak pulled over his head so you could only just see his strawberry blonde hair sticking out the sides of it. Mark along with everyone else felt his stomach not with nerves. The person that was going to decide whether they became apprentices or not was going to take the last test which meant if they made a mistake Crowley would see it firsthand. Crowley walked to the edge of the forest and gestured for them to follow him. They got to the edge of the forest, Mark saw one small flag at the edge of the forest and saw another flag about twenty metres away from the first.

"You will start at one flag and you have to get to the other flag without being seen by me or by your friends" he said. Crowley knew that he would be able to see them as they weren't even apprentices yet and he was and had been a fully fledged ranger for years, but he wanted to see how good they were with the few months training they had had. Also he had Halt hiding somewhere watching them from a different angle and he wanted to see if the apprentices saw him.

"Who would like to go first?" Crowley asked. No one volunteered which was what he expected, after all who would chose to take a test first. He waited a few more seconds but still no one came forward, he was about to speak again when Mark stepped forward. He just wanted to get it over with.

"I, I will Ranger Crowley" Mark said, stuttering because of his nerves. Mark stood there waiting to see what Crowley said.

"OK Mark and just call me Crowley" Crowley said with a smile. Mark stepped over to the flag. Like Mark's cloak it fluttered in the breeze. Mark waited for Crowley to say he could go when he got the feeling that someone was watching him. He ignored it, it was just Crowley and the others he thought to himself. He looked over at Crowley and saw that he was just sorting out some papers so he waited. Mark got the feeling that someone was watching him again. He turned round and looked into the forest. There was no one, he got a sense of 'Déjà vu' back when he had met Will in the woods back at Redmont. He went to turn round when a thought came to him. _No one ever looks up. _He looked up into the trees above him. He thought he saw a figure in the trees but it was hard to tell. The figure blended in with the back ground making it hard for him to make out any exact features like an arm or leg. He shrugged it off but was very cautious and listening to any sound behind him. His eyes glanced back but he made sure his head didn't move. Crowley saw this and a slight smile touched his lips. Crowley nodded his head towards the flag to signal that Mark could go when he felt ready.

Mark saw Crowley nod his head and knew that he could start. He waited for the wind to blow and then stepped into the shadows that were cast across the ground. He moved with them and got to a tree where he waited again for the shadows to move. Instead of going in front of the tree where he would be more visible he went to the back of it and moved with the shadows. He seemed to glide across the field in the shadows making him hard to see. He got to a bush and waited behind it. He could still feel a pair of eyes on him that were not meant to be watching but he resisted the need to look behind him. It took him about six minutes to get from one flag to the other, about double the time it would take him if he ran. He could have made it faster but he knew it was safer to go slow and take his time so that he didn't make any mistakes.

Mark walked over to the group and waited for Crowley who was writing notes on paper again. He looked back to the trees and could see nothing but he knew someone was there. Mark waited whilst the other three took their goes. About forty minutes later everyone was done and Crowley was writing notes again. "Good you can go now and I will let you know how you did later on at the feast." Crowley walked of back towards the commandant tent. He looked into the forests and moved his head slightly in the direction of his tent. Kyle elbowed Mark in the ribs, it wasn't meant to be hard but it was and Mark let out a groan.

"What was...that for?" Mark said between breaths. He took in a deep breath, all the air was knocked out of him as Kyle had elbowed him.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to hit you that hard. I was going to say look at that tree." Kyle moved his eyes to the tree he was talking about. Mark followed and saw someone climb down the tree. "Crowley knew he was there, he just signalled him to come down" Kyle said. The figure pulled back the hood of his cloak.

"It's Halt." Mark and Kyle looked at Halt. "He was watching us." Halt walked past them and stopped.

"You two should be getting back to the tents. I am sure Will and Gilan will want to know how it went" Halt said walking into the distance. Mark and Kyle walked to the tents and were greeted by Will and Gilan. They discussed everything that happened. Will and Gilan were already confident with their apprentices before they came to the gathering.

**-LINE BREAK-**

Mark sat at the long table where all fifty rangers and the apprentices were sitting. He was sat next to Gilan and another ranger that he didn't know. Halt sat opposite him and Will and Kyle sat on either side of Halt. Every ranger had a cup of coffee and Will, Halt, Gilan, Mark and Kyle had honey in theirs. The feast was to celebrate Evan, a fifth year apprentice, becoming a full ranger. Everyone was happy for him and where congratulating him. After everyone sat back down in their seats Crowley stood up.

"Congratulations Evan well done. Right today is the last day of the gathering before we all go back to our fiefs and get on with what we are trained to do. Like usual I am going to assign people to new fiefs" Crowley shouted. He pulled out a piece of paper and read what it said. "As we all know Lewis Ranger forty has retired so if he would like to come up." Lewis got out of his seat and walked over to Crowley. He took of his silver necklace and gave it to Crowley. Crowley put it in his pocket and handed Lewis another necklace with an oak leaf on. This one was gold to show that he was a retired ranger, he also handed Lewis a scroll with the oak leaf stamped onto the wax. "Lewis will be joining me at Castle Araluen to help me with my paper work. Connor you will be taking Lewis's place at Aspien fief which means that seacliff fief has no ranger. Evan you will be taking Connor's place at Seacliff. You will have three days to say good bye to your family and then you will leave for Seacliffe." Crowley looked to Evan to see if he understood. Like everyone else Mark clapped for Evan, Lewis and Connor.

"All we have to do now is welcome our new apprentices who have all passed the test. Mark, Jake, Kyle and Ben would you come up here" Mark got up and walked over to Crowley along with the other three. They got to the top of the table and Crowley gave each of them a bronze necklace with a bronze oak leaf on. He shook their hands and congratulated them and then they all sat back down in their seats.

"Well done" Will said patting Mark on the back.

"Thanks" Mark replied. He was speechless and that was all he could think to say. Gilan and Halt came over and they both congratulated him too. Mark walked over to Kyle.

"Wow" Kyle said "I can't believe it"

"You didn't think you would pass?" Mark said purposely misunderstanding.

"No, I mean I can't believe that I am a apprentice ranger and you know that. It's something that I have wanted to be for years and my parents were always telling me that there wasn't much chance of Gilan picking me." Kyle looked up at Gilan and smiled, Gilan smiled back.

"Well my friend, you got what you wanted" Mark said with a smile on his face, he put his arm on Kyle's shoulder.

"And so have you." Kyle put his arm on Marks shoulder and they both laughed. Mark couldn't believe it he was now definitely an apprentice. He walked away from Kyle and left him with Gilan.

"Well done Mark, I knew you could do it" Will said smiling at his apprentice.

"I was a bit nervous at first but I knew that I could do it if I wanted to." Mark smiled back "Thanks."

Will looked confused "For what."

"For this, I lost everything except for my sister in my life but now it is starting to rebuild around me. If you hadn't asked me to be your apprentice then I don't know what I would be doing right now" Mark said smiling. It was because of Will that he had something to do in his life now.

**Hello again. I hope you liked it, I know this chapter was longer than my others I just hope it wasn't too long. Do you think I should split it into two chapters? Also do you like Kyle? I wanted someone that Mark would be able to go on his missions for the corps with that was the same age as him. I apologise again for taking so long to upload. As always comment, criticize, fav and follow but if you do criticize please don't be to mean and tell me what is wrong and why. **


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello again, I know that I have been really slow in updating recently and I apologise but I know what is in the next chapter so it should be up quicker. Also this chapter is from Mark and Kyle's point of view and some of the chapters following will be too. I hope you like this chapter as it is starting to get to the main part of the story.**

_**Mark**_

Mark could see the small black and white dog running around the snowy field. Every now and then she would disappear behind large mounds of snow and all you could see was flakes of snow being tossed in the air as she rolled about in it. She usually stuck her head over the top of the snow to make sure Mark was still there but sometimes Mark had to whistle to get her to come back. Ahead of them was the village, all the houses had smoke swirling up from the chimneys keeping the occupants warm, and the windows had a warm yellow glow shining through them. Mark felt slightly jealous of them as the cold flakes of snow landed on him and Bolt. He shivered as the bitter wind blew again making his entire body cold. The small powdery flakes of snow landed on Bolt's mane and he shook his head in an attempt to get them off, Mark let out a small laugh as he watched his horse shake its head about. Bolt neighed: _It really isn't amusing, stop being immature_.

"Sorry but it was funny, besides I am a kid I am meant to be immature" Mark said to his horse. Ebony came running over and barked a greeting. She had noticed that Mark had stopped watching her so she had decided to run over to see what was going. Mark read her eyes, _it was very funny you looked like you were dancing_.

"You were not even here." Mark looked at Ebony, over the months he had lived with the Treaty family he had noticed that they all talk to their animals and over time it had rubbed off on him and he started talking to them too. _No but I could see him shaking that mane of his from where I was_, Ebony looked at Mark as if it was obvious that she could see them from that distance. Mark rolled his eyes, he was arguing with a dog and a horse, basically talking to himself.

Bolt rode into Redmont village and Mark guided him to the bakery. Mark could hear Ebony's soft paws padding along the path behind him, he turned in the saddle and whistled, she ran over to Mark and looked up at him. "Before you ask, I am going into the bakery and I need you to wait with Bolt" Mark said as he climbed of Bolt. As he landed on the ground he heard a squeak as the snow flattened beneath his boots. He looked down at his boots, there was the soft white powder of the snow coating the top of them. Before he entered the shop he brushed the snow of so that he wasn't leaving wet footprints in the store. He looked back at Ebony to make sure she was still there, Bolt was shaking his mane again and the snow flew off and landed on Ebony who then shook the snow onto the ground. She looked up at Mark, _What? I am not going anywhere, hurry up though I have a horse shaking snow onto me._ Mark thought about replying with 'Then why don't you move away from his mane' but stopped himself, people already thought ranger's were mysterious and used dark magic, if they saw him talking to Ebony then they would think they could talk with animals as well.

Mark opened the door and walked inside. He felt the warmth of the fire on him as it heated the room. The store smelt of freshly made bread which made Mark's mouth water. The store owner walked out of a small room at the back behind the counter. "What can I do for you ranger sir?" she asked. The store owner was small and dumpy, she had her light brown hair tied into a bun on the top of her head and her face was covered in flour making her look a ghostly white. When Mark looked closer he noticed that her hair actually had flour in which was making it look lighter in colour. She was in a brown dress with a white apron over the top tied around her waist. The apron had brown stains on it from the food she had been cooking and like everything else is too was covered in flour. She is the colour of a ghost Mark thought to himself.

"I would like to buy some bread please" Mark said "and you can just call me Mark" he added. Mark loved being a ranger, but the one thing he disliked about it was how people acted nervously around him. The women smiled and walked of back into the room behind her. A couple of seconds later she came back through the door with a loaf of bread in her hands.

"Here you go ranger" she said putting the bread in a bag and passing it over. Mark exchanged it with two silver coins from his pocket. The women took the money and dropped it into a small pouch at her waist.

"Mark" Mark corrected. "Actually could I have another loaf if you have any?" For some reason Mark felt like they were going to need more than one loaf of bread tonight. The women nodded and scurried back into the room to get more bread. Mark gave her two more coins and then he left with the bag of bread. He opened the door and shivered as the wind blew into the warm room. He quickly walked out and closed the door behind him so that the wind didn't blow the fire out that was lit inside.

The snow had already covered the footprints he had left when he had first climbed off Bolt. Mark strapped the bag onto Bolt's saddle and then climbed up himself. Instead of the slow trot Bolt had gone at on the way to the village Mark put Bolt into a canter so that they spent less time outside. Ebony chased after them all the way to the cabin. He climbed of Bolt and led him into the stables. There were two extra horses in the stable and Mark recognised them to be Sky and Blaze, Kyle and Gilan's horses. Somehow Mark got all the horses to fit in the stable with a reasonable amount of room. It took about ten minutes but he managed to get Bolt in with the other five horses. He pulled out an apple from the barrel and fed it to Bolt who crunched happily on it spraying Mark with apple juices. Mark wiped the juices of his face with the back of his hand. He put Bolt's saddle in the corner and took the bread outside with him. Ebony followed him up to the door of the cabin and then decided to shake the snow of her covering Mark in it. Mark smiled at her but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

He stepped in the house and saw Will, Alyss, Gilan, Arianna and Kyle around the table. From where Mark was standing they all looked squashed, the table clearly wasn't built for five let alone six he thought. "Hello Gilan and Kyle" he said as he handed Alyss the bread, he was glad that he had bought an extra loaf as he didn't want to go back in the snow.

Gilan raised his hands to the heavens "how comes none of you are surprised that we are here?" he asked.

"I asked" Arianna said feeling slightly disappointed that Gilan had forgotten about her.

Mark looked at him and smiled. "I saw Sky and Blaze in the stable" he said like it was obvious, well it was obvious really.

"How did you fit them all in the stables?" Will asked looking up from his coffee.

"If I am completely honest I have no idea but I did" Mark said, "eventually" he said more to himself than the others. Kyle let out a snort of laughter over his cup of coffee. "You know it was a tight squeeze and I couldn't actually fit all six horses in there, I managed to get Bolt in after I got Sky out of the stables and into the snow." Mark didn't look at Kyle as he spoke, instead he busied himself with making a cup of coffee for himself. He let out a smile when he heard a chair scrape on the floor and the door creak open and then close. Mark got a chair and sat next to Arianna.

"That was mean" Arianna said looking up at Mark. She had a frown spread above her eyes.

"Yes but he deserved it" Mark said taking a sip of the coffee.

"No he didn't"

"He did, he laughed at my misfortune so I can now laugh at his." There was a shout and a thud outside. "I will definitely laugh." The door creaked open to show a grumpy looking Kyle. Will, Gilan and Mark started laughing. Kyle was covered in snow, especially his hair which was now white. His clothes were dripping with water from the snow that had melted from his body heat. He shook his head and the snow fell to the floor all around him. Mark was reminded of Ebony as Kyle shook his head left and right to get rid of the snow just like Ebony had done out on the veranda. Kyle glared at the three rangers sitting around the table. He looked at Mark who was trying to hide his laughter behind his cup of coffee.

"Amusing isn't it" he said walking up to the table and sitting down. Mark noticed that there was already a bruise forming above Kyle's right eye.

"Are you all right?" Mark asked.

"I'm fine, just cold" Kyle said wiping his wet hair of his face. Mark knew he wasn't, Kyle was soaked from head to toe.

"Go get changed into some other clothes" Gilan said. Kyle nodded and picked up his bag that was by the door.

"Use Mark's room to get changed," Alyss pointed towards Marks room. Kyle smiled and went into Mark's room. A minute later there was another thud and a groan. This time even Arianna and Alyss smiled. Kyle walked out of the room in dry clothes. He wore a blue shirt with a brown jacket over the top. He wore brown trousers much like the ones he was wearing before and his usual ranger boots. He had his belt with his Saxe knife and throwing knife attached to it around his waist. He put his wet ranger clothes in his bag and placed it by the door. Everyone turned to look at him.

"I tripped over" Kyle looked at the smiling faces. "His room is a mess, I am surprised he hasn't broken his leg in there" Kyle said glaring at Mark for the second time in less than twenty minutes. If only looks could kill Kyle thought. I am glad looks can't kill Mark thought.

"So why are you here" Alyss asked changing the subject. She came over with bowls of stew for everyone she also bought over a plate with slices of bread on. Everyone started eating.

"This is good Alyss" Gilan said.

"Thank you Gilan," Alyss smiled at his complement.

"Crowley wants to speak with me at Araluen but I thought we could come and visit you lot on the way" Gilan said. "We will be leaving soon though, we just popped in to say hi and then Alyss offered us tea."

"And it was delicious" Kyle added finishing of the last of what was in his bowl.

"Thank you Kyle" Alyss said with another smile on her face, it was nice to know that people liked her food she thought.

"God! It is like another Horace is in the house" said Will looking at Kyle's empty bowl. "How did you eat that so fast?"

"He has a big appetite, although I have to say you wouldn't think it when you see him" Gilan told Will who was looking at Kyle's small appearance.

The three adults talked whilst Mark and Kyle sat and listened to what they were saying. Arianna sat on her chair staring into space, as Mark watched he saw her eyelids starting to droop. Alyss noticed as well. She walked over and picked Arianna up into her arms, she then went off to Arianna's room and appeared a couple of minutes later without Arianna. At half past nine Gilan and Kyle left in the direction of castle Araluen.

_**Kyle**_

The rode to castle Araluen was long and cold. There had been no snow since the day they had seen Mark and Will but Kyle was starting to wish that there had. The snow had started to melt every day since then which was a problem for anyone camping out. Every night Kyle and Gilan would have to sleep on cold wet ground as the snow slowly turned into a dirty brown slush. They had tents, but after a while the water started to seep through the thin fabric and make anything inside of the tent wet.

Kyle's clothes were damp, every time the wind blew, the water on his clothes would become freezing and his skin was starting to go numb. Both he and Gilan were delighted when they turned the final bend in the long road to castle Araluen and saw the magnificent castle in front of them. Kyle pushed his legs into Sky and his horse rushed towards the castle with Gilan and Bolt not far behind him. Their horse's hooves clopped on the wooden drawbridge. Gilan showed his silver oak leaf and the guards let them into the castle courtyard.

Kyle got of Sky and led him to the stables after telling a stable hand that he could look after Sky himself. A ranger always puts his horse before himself. He fed and watered Sky and brushed him down. He then put the saddle on a peg in the corner making sure he had taking all of his things of it first. Gilan and Kyle walked into the castle. Kyle closed his eyes as he let the warmth of the many torches in the castle soak into him. His clothes were still damp and uncomfortable but they felt slightly warmer. Every time he moved his damp top rub against his arms. I can't wait to get out of these Kyle thought. They walked through the corridors of the castle leaving a trail of wet footprints as they went. Kyle had only been in one castle before and that was in Whitby, which compared to Castle Araluen was nothing. He wiped a drop of water of his head which was slowly sliding down his face. They stopped outside a wooden door. Gilan brought his hand up to knock when they heard a deep voice from inside say "Come in."

Gilan did as he was told and opened the door. It squeaked open, obviously from the thin layer of rust that Crowley had let build up on the hinges. Kyle rubbed his arm as he felt goose bumps forming on his arm. He had never liked the sound of thinks squeaking of creaking open, it was like nails scraping on a chalkboard to him. Kyle closed the door behind him and turned round to face Crowley. The room was small, there was a table in the centre and it had four chairs around it. On the left side there was a fire place that had flames crackling inside it and there was a stack of wood next to it. In front of it was a small rug. Behind Crowley was a window which had a view of a snow covered field, in the distance you could see the beginning of the forest that Kyle and Gilan had travelled through and it too was also covered in a thin layer of snow. On the right was a door which led to the living quarters. Crowley gestured for Gilan and Kyle to take a seat. Kyle took the one closest to the fire and sank into the chair. Crowley disappeared behind the door on the right and he came back with three cups. He gave Kyle a cup and Kyle took a sip. He didn't care that the coffee was burning his tongue, he was just happy that he wasn't freezing to death right now. He put the coffee down on the table and relaxed. He could feel the heat of the fire soaking into his back and clothes. Kyle could already feel that the back of his clothes were dryer than the front. There was a long silence that went on for about three minutes. Kyle waited and waited and waited.

"So why did you want to speak with us?" Kyle asked not being able to hold his curiosity in any longer. Like always Crowley wanted to see how patient the new apprentices could be.

"I have called you both here because I have your first mission" Crowley answered. "Normally I would send Will and Halt out on this and I would have Gilan and you stay at Redmont whilst they are gone but I have decided not to."

"Why?" asked Kyle "What is it?"

"It doesn't matter why and if you give me a chance I will tell you." Kyle closed his mouth and felt his cheeks redden. "Remember I sent Will and Halt to Celtica about five or six months ago, well I think that the bandits are in Araluen, we have had reports that there have been sightings of some strange looking men. I want you two to go and find out what you can about them," Crowley said looking at Kyle. Kyle could feel the excitement wanting to escape from his body but chose not to show it, he wanted to keep his cool in front of the ranger commandant. Crowley went through the rest of the things he wanted them to do when following the bandits and then they left for their own rooms.

**So did you like it? Please let me know what you think. Thanks to everyone that reviewed my last few chapters: BirdKid13, Hibernia12, Lorrie the Ninja Elf, Kiss-My-Asphalt and AmazingWriter123. I apologise if I have spelt any names wrong. Like always please review, favourite and follow. Criticism is welcome as well as long as it is something that I could change.  
Also I have started another fan fiction called 'Ranger's Apprentice short stories' so it would be great if you could read that and tell me what you think too. **


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ranger's apprentice John Flanagan does. I only own my characters.**

**Kyle**

A small white-grey horse came out the borders of a forest. The horse was covered in dust and dirt and its head drooped in front of it out of tiredness. The horse was small and looked far more like a pony than an actual horse. The rider sat on their horse, bent over and resting on the horse's neck. The rider was all in brown, they had a brown mottled cloak flowing over the top of them hiding all of them from view. At their side was a bow and on their back was a quiver of twenty one arrows.

The person had their arms wrapped around the horse's neck and they held their hands so that they didn't fall off. The persons hands started to loosen and their entire body started to slip of the saddle of the horse. They fell from the saddle and hit the ground but the rider made no effort to ease his descent, instead they let them self land with a thud. The crumpled heap let out a groan and tried to get up but collapsed with the effort.

The horse looked round at its rider and walked over to him. It collapsed its legs and sat next to the rider knocking them with its nose. The rider didn't react, instead let themselves be pushed about by their horse.

The horse knocked its rider again this time on the head.

"Go away Sky" Kyle said pushing his horse's head away from him. Again Sky pushed his nose into Kyle's head glad that he had got a response from his master. Kyle knocked him away again wishing that his horse would leave him to rest. He hadn't had sleep for days and he felt weak from lack of food.

The thoughts of what had happened three days ago were still fresh in his mind. He stood up and then quickly leant on Sky as everything spun around him. He put his foot in the stirrup and hauled himself up onto Sky ignoring the nausea that washed over him. He felt completely weak after pulling himself up onto Sky. "Redmont" Kyle croaked. He had to get to Redmont and tell Halt and Will. He had to tell them so that they could help.

He forced his eyes to stay open and to not let himself fall asleep. Kyle didn't register anything that was going on around him. He had one thing in his mind and that was to lead his horse to Redmont.

"Come on not much further." He said this more to encourage himself than to encourage his horse. He patted Sky on the neck and dug his heals into Sky's stomach and Sky sped up. "We are nearly there"

It took them another hour to get to Redmont. Sky rode up the hill and stopped at the top.

"Come on boy we need to keep going. You can rest soon, you have done great all I need is a little bit more" Kyle said. Sky rode down the hill. Kyle could see the forest from under the cowl of his cloak. He turned Sky in that direction ignoring the stares he got from people. He knew he looked a mess but he needed to get to the cabin he needed to tell someone who could help.

They got to a small clearing in the woods and Kyle slid of Sky. He went over to the stables with Sky following obediently behind. As they walked into the stables Bolt nickered a greeting to Sky. Kyle fed and watered his horse and then staggered out of the stables. He made his way to the cabin, leaning on everything he could to keep him balanced and up right. He climbed up the steps and stumbled on one of them, stopping himself falling by putting his hands out to the door.

He was leaning on the wall of the cabin when the door creaked open.

"Mark who is it?" he heard a young familiar voice question. Kyle felt his arms beginning to slip and everything was slowly turning black. The last thing he registered was Mark supporting him and then he was unconscious.

**Mark**

"When will mum and dad be back?" Arianna asked for the second time.

"They have only just gone out" Mark said reading a sheet of paper.

"I am bored" Arianna said trying to get Mark to look up.

"Are you" was all he said.

"Yes" Arianna glared at Mark when she heard him mutter 'then do something'.

"What can I do?"

"I don't know Arianna. What do you want to do?" Mark said looking up from what he was reading.

"I don't know." Mark bit back his anger and annoyance.

"Well go play with Ebony then" Mark said getting back to his reading. A few minutes passed and all you could hear was the soft pad of Ebony's paws padding on the wooden floor. Arianna looked at Mark who paid her no attention.

"What time is it?" she asked. Mark sighed and threw the piece of paper in the air.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" he said looking at the girl who had now become like his second sister. She smiled back at him and nodded. Mark got up from his chair and went and sat down with her. "What do you want to do?"

"Could we play hide and seek?" she asked.

"No"

"Why not, it would be fun."

"Maybe for you but the last time I played that with you I fell out a tree" Mark said stroking Ebony.

"Please" Arianna pleaded.

"No"

"Please"

"No"

"Please."

Mark sighed, "Fine you hide. 1. 2. 3. 4." Mark smiled when he heard Arianna knock over a mop. "5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10." Mark got up from the floor and went and picked the mop up. He knew exactly where she had gone. If she had knocked the mop over then she was heading for her room and there were not many places she could hide in there. Unless she knocked it over purposefully he thought. He stopped what he was doing when he heard Bolt and another horse. He stood still and waited. He heard footsteps and then a thud on the door as someone stopped themselves falling. He walked over to the door and picked up his bow. He opened the door and was shocked to see Kyle.

"Mark who is it?" Arianna said walking out of her room. He quickly dropped his bow and caught Kyle who was starting to fall.

"Arianna get me a bowl of water and a cloth." Mark placed Kyle on the sofa. Arianna ran over with a bowl of water and passed it to Mark.

"Thanks" Mark said. He pulled back the hood of Kyle's cloak and was shocked. Kyle's face was a mix of blood and dirt. There was a slash on Kyle's right cheek from what Mark assumed was a blade and there was also a cut above his left eye, it looked like he had been hit in the head. Mark got the cloth and held it on Kyle's cheek which was still pumping out blood. Kyle's hair was red and stuck to his head.

"Can I help?" Arianna asked.

"Get me another cloth and then put your hand where mine is." Arianna rushed into the cupboard and got another cloth along with some towels and a blanket. She passed the things to Mark and then placed her hand on his. Mark took his hand away and then started cleaning Kyle's face.

"We need a doctor" Mark said to himself.

"But hasn't my dad taught you first aid?" Arianna asked concerned.

"Yes but im not great with it" Mark said.

"I will go to the village"

"No I can't let you go out on your own." Mark put his head in his hands. He couldn't let Arianna go to the village on her own and he couldn't leave her here. At the same time he couldn't leave Kyle on his own this badly injured. "Keep your hand there and apply pressure" Mark said picking up his bow and quiver of arrows, he then ran out the door and got Bolt. Mark rode as fast as he could to the village and stopped outside a small house. Like every other house in the village (except for the Inn) it only had one floor. Above the door of the small house there was a sign nailed to the wall that said _Physicians_. The writing was rough and jagged and it had been carved into the wood instead of being painted on. Mark knocked on the door and waited. Every second felt like a year.

"Hurry up" he muttered under his breath. Every second Mark spent here was a second longer that his friend was in pain and discomfort. The door opened to reveal a small old man. He had grey hair which was thinning on the top. He was thin and bony. "What can I do for you Ranger sir" he said.

"My friend, he is hurt I need you to come quickly." Mark pointed to the forest.

"Ok let me just grab my things" he croaked disappearing into the house. He came back out with a leather bag over his shoulders. He went around the back of his house and came back with a horse which he got on easily for a man of his age. They both rode back to the cabin. They quickly put their horses in the stable and rushed into the house. Arianna was next to Kyle holding the cloth to his face and she moved when the doctor came over. The man opened up the bag and pulled out several bandages, cloths and a lot of other things.

"How long has he been like this?" the man asked whilst cleaning up Kyle's face.

"I'm not sure, he arrived at the door about ten minutes ago and passed out" Mark said looking at his friend. "Is there anything I can help with?"

"Yes get me a clean bowl of water." Mark did as he was told and got some fresh water. He handed it to the man and then watched in silence. Mark looked at Arianna who looked slightly pale. He walked over to her and put a comforting arm around her. She hugged him tightly and looked away from Kyle. The doctor went into his bag again and pulled out a small tub of salve. He put some of the salve onto both of the cuts on Kyle's face and then stitched up the slash on Kyle's cheek. After he had done that he checked Kyle's chest and stomach. There were no broken bones but the left side of Kyle's stomach was badly bruised.

"I have done all I can. He has bad bruising on his stomach but apart from that and his face he is fine. You need to let him rest. He is dehydrated so when he wakes up he needs to drink something but he probably won't wake up for a while, he is exhausted. If he seems to be getting worse come and tell me" the doctor said packing his things.

"Thank you" Mark said "Should I move him into one of the rooms"

"That would probably be best but make sure you keep an eye on him." The doctor left leaving Mark and Arianna in the house. Mark looked at Arianna, some colour had gone back into her face but she still looked slightly unwell. He went outside and filled a bucket with water. He put it on the table and then helped Arianna clean her hands, he then cleaned his own hands which were stained red like Arianna's and looked down at his clothes. There were a few stains of blood on his left shoulder and Arianna had some blood on her sleeves. They both changed into some clean clothes and then slowly got Kyle into Mark's room and on his bed.

"Do you think he will be alright?" Arianna asked. Mark smiled at her.

"He will be fine. He's stronger than you think." Arianna smiled, "Do you feel better?"

"Yes, I just didn't like seeing Kyle like that" Arianna said looking at Kyle.

"I'm sorry that I had to leave you on your own."

"I don't mind, he needed a doctor and you couldn't leave him alone." Arianna hugged Mark. "What are you going to say to mum and dad?" As if on que Mark heard the door to the cabin squeak open. Arianna got up ran out of the bedroom. A few seconds later she had brought Will and Alyss into the room. Will looked concerned and confused whilst Alyss just looked concerned. They spent the next couple of minutes explaining what had happened and Mark told them what the doctor had said.

That night Mark slept on the sofa whilst Kyle was in his bed.

**Did you like it? Please tell me your thoughts on it and who feels sorry for Kyle, I do. Anyway please review, favourite and follow as it makes me happy. Good bye for now.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello again. This chapter is all about Mark but it will be about Kyle next chapter. I hope you like it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own ranger's apprentice, only my characters.**

Mark traipsed through the village, the snow had melted and it was actually quite warm outside. The winter sun shone down onto Mark and the rest of Redmont casting shadows across the dark green grass. Not that this increased Mark's mood. Kyle was still asleep and this put Mark in a bad mood. He kicked at a stone on the floor and watched it as it rolled and bounced along the dirt road, leaving a small trail as it rolled. There were people walking through the streets, mostly women, the men were out on the farms working. As he walked past the bakery he got the strong smell of fresh food again, but this time he didn't even look up. His stomach growled and Mark realised he hadn't eaten anything all day. He ignored it; he didn't care about his stomach. He had left early this morning so that he could be on his own and he had been out for hours. He realised that it was actually getting on to lunch time.

Mark would be lying if he told you that he wasn't nervous for his friend. He was extremely nervous even though he had been told by the doctor that Kyle would be fine. He felt so helpless that he couldn't do anything to help Kyle or Gilan. He didn't even know where Gilan was. Only Kyle knew that and they couldn't do anything to help Gilan until Kyle woke up. Mark felt angry as well. He wanted to know who had done that to his friend and he wanted to make them pay. He had never felt like this before. The last time he could recall being this emotional was months ago when his village was attacked. When his parents were killed and his house burnt down. When he nearly lost his life and when his sister was nearly killed. When that had happened he felt angry, upset and many emotions that he didn't even realise you could feel.

He kicked the stone again sending it rolling away from him. Again he kicked it and again. He didn't know where he was going but he just wanted to be alone for a while. He went to kick the stone that he had been taking his emotions out on when someone shouted his name. He stopped kicking the stone and looked up from the ground. Everything looked the same. There were still women walking about and none of them had stopped doing what they were doing. He shrugged his shoulders and went back to kicking the stone. If someone was calling him then they would come over to him Mark thought bitterly.

He heard it again. The voice was closer and he could tell it was a girl. He turned round and looked ahead of him. A short girl was walking gracefully over to him, waving as she went. Becky, Mark smiled slightly then his face went back into one of anger. Becky had brown hair which was pulled tight in a ponytail behind her head. Her dark emerald green eyes were even darker today. Her red lips formed into a smile when she saw Mark look at her. She was a little tubbier than when Mark had first seen her, but when you worked in a kitchen all day that wasn't surprising. Then again would you take a little snack if Chubb was you mentor? Mark had only been in the ward for a few months but had been hit with the ladle Chubb carried more than once. It was like Chubb's own personal sword.

"Hey, I haven't seen you in ages" Becky said with a huge smile on her face. Mark and Becky had only seen each other a few times in the past few months.

"Hi" was all Mark said and he kicked the stone on the ground again. Becky looked at him a little hurt.

"You haven't seen me in ages and all you can say is 'hi'" Becky said in annoyance. "We're friends Mark, you could at least sound a little happier to see me. If you don't want me here then just tell me and I will go." Becky's voice gradually got louder. Mark looked at her in shock. I guess I did deserve that he thought.

"Fine!" Becky stormed off back in the direction she had come. Mark watched her and sighed. He watched as she walked of back up to the castle.

"Becky" he said. She carried on walking so Mark ran after her. "Becky" he shouted quickening his pace. He caught up with her and put his arm on her shoulder.

"Becky I'm sorry" he said meaning every word. She just looked at him and Mark could have sworn that there was a tear in her eye. "I just have a lot on my mind right now ok. Of course I don't want you to go away." He saw her smile and knew that she had forgiven him.

"What's on your mind?" She asked curious to know what was wrong with Mark. Mark looked at her and walked off towards the forest motioning her to come with him. She followed him and Mark started to explain everything that had happened with Kyle. It took him ten minutes to say it all and by that time they had got to the forest and had been walking through it for about five minutes. They stopped at a tree and Mark sat underneath it. The ground was dry under the tree and blocked you from the little sun that made its way through into the forest. The clearing was quite small and the tree in the middle took up most of the space. Becky hugged him. "I'm sorry"

"For what?" said Mark, grateful for the comfort.

"For what happened to Kyle and for what I said earlier on" Becky said looking into Mark's eyes. She felt safe with Mark and she realised now that she wanted more than to be just friends with him.

"Oh. So how is it with master Chubb" Mark said getting up feeling slightly awkward. Becky saw that he felt awkward and got up moving slightly further away from him.

"It has been great, I've learnt a lot of things with him. It's a very interesting craft, I would love to be as great as him one day or as great as Jenny." She saw Mark's questioning look and added, "She owns the restaurant in the village." Mark nodded his head as he realised who she was talking about. "Master Chubb said that I could be a great chef one day if I put my mind to it and stopped talking with others whilst I'm cooking."

"That's great I am sure you will be a fine chef. The best in the land" Mark said smiling. He loved seeing Becky again and she had taken his mind of Kyle.

"I don't think so, have you not tried their cooking, I tried Jenny's once, it was amazing. And what about you, you must have learnt lots as a ranger?" She said.

"Well I have learnt a bit, it has been great fun"

"I'm pretty sure you learnt more than _just a bit_" she said mocking Mark's tone. Mark smiled at her swallowing the embarrassment.

"Ok so I have learnt more than just a bit" he said smiling as he thought about what he had learnt and the fun he had had. He sat back down under the tree and let Becky sit next to him. They sat in silence for a while as they thought about the past months. Mark looked at Becky and saw that she was looking at him. He looked at her and they both smiled. Mark felt his heart pump faster and he could feel his hands getting sweaty. Becky looked away and got up.

"I erm, I should erm really be getting back to the kitchens. Chubb doesn't like us being late back on our breaks" she said brushing herself off.

"Of course" Mark said feeling the awkwardness between them. "Erm would you like me to walk you back" he asked already knowing what she would say.

"No, no. I erm I will find the way" she said as she hurried off out the forest. Mark went to chase after her but stopped himself. He kicked at the ground in frustration. Now he had ruined their friendship as well. He stormed out of the forest limping slightly as pain started to creep into the foot he had used to kick the ground. He felt his anger rising inside him as he made his way to the small cabin. Like always there was smoke spiralling up from the chimney and there was a man in brown sitting out on the veranda. He heard Tug and Bolt neigh a greeting to him as he got closer to the cabin. Will looked up at him. He was sitting at a table with piles of paper around him and like always a cup of milky coffee next to him.

He stormed past Will and into the kitchen where he saw Alyss teaching Arianna to cook. Again Arianna didn't seem interested and was staring out the window at the forest. She ran over to Mark when she realised who had come in. She hugged him tightly and grabbed his hand. She then pulled him over to the kitchen and looked at her mum pleadingly. There were lots of things out on the work top. There were carrots, potatoes and a lot of other vegetables off to the left. In front of him was a knife to cut them and in front of Alyss was a chunk of meat. Chicken he realised as Alyss cut through it. She looked at him and smiled.

"Hello Mark" she said. "Arianna I don't think Mark really wants to be cooking" Alyss told Arianna. Arianna turned her head to Mark and looked at him. Alyss was right he didn't want to be cooking, he just wanted to relax.

"But can he if he wants to?" Arianna asked her mother. Alyss nodded and then Arianna turned to Mark. Mark sighed and nodded his head.

"Alright" he said as Alyss handed him a knife to start cutting up the vegetables that were in a pile. "You're helping me though missy" he told Arianna who was nodding with a huge smile on her face. Mark held back the laughter that wanted to burst from him. Arianna really didn't like cooking. He gave her some of the vegetables and told her to start cleaning them which she did without a fuss. Ten minutes later Mark washed his hands as Alyss placed the chicken on the fire to cook. He just sat down when he heard a groan from his room. He looked around to see if anyone else had heard it but saw that Alyss was busy dealing with Arianna again. He limped over to his room and opened the door. Kyle was lying on the bed the way he had been earlier on except he had his eyes open.

**So Kyle lived. What did you think of this chapter? I really want to start a kind of relationship with Mark and Becky. I have to say romance is my weak spot so tell me if you think it was ok or if it was terrible. Hopefully it isn't. So Kyle is up and awake and you will be finding out what happened to him and Gilan in the next chapter. Also there will definitely be some action in it as well. Like always please review, favourite and follow. Also if you have any ideas for later on in the story let me know. I would give you credit for the idea. **


	14. Chapter 14

**Hello. I know it has been a long time since I last updated and I really do apologise. I had a exam in English that was part of my GCSE's and a lot of homework. I am really sorry. This chapter is a little longer than some of the others so hopefully that makes up for my lateness. Also like I promised there is action in it and you will find out what happened to Kyle and Gilan. You probably know this already but the writing in **_Italics_** is Kyle's memory.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ranger's Apprentice. **

Kyle woke up and slowly opened his eyes. At first his vision was blurry and he couldn't focus on anything, but slowly his sight came more into focus. He looked around the room the best he could from his lying position and fear engulfed him. Where was he? What happened? He thought but soon calmed as he remembered what had happened and remembered where he was. Kyle looked around the room. It was the same as the last time he had seen it, except far cleaner. There was a wardrobe on the opposite wall to the bed and a window with what looked like fresh flowers in a vase on the sill.

He sat up slowly and bit his lip as his stomach screamed out in agony. He looked down and saw that he had no top on. His stomach was a mix of purple, green and yellow and it was slightly inflamed. He lowered himself back on the bed and looked around for his top. He saw it on a chair that was facing his bed. He stretched out his arm and felt the top in his hand. He tugged on it slightly and grunted as it pulled on the chair. He pulled again and this time it came off. He slipped the top over his head to put it on. The top had been cleaned but it was half pink from where the blood had stained it.

He heard footsteps come running close to the room he was in and the door opened to a very happy Mark. Arianna was beside him and she ran over and hugged him tightly making him wince as she put pressure on his stomach. Arianna quickly stood back and looked apologetically at him, Kyle smiled at her and then looked at Mark who had walked into the room with Alyss.

"What happened? Are you alright? Your face? Where's Gilan?" Mark asked, overwhelming Kyle in questions. Kyle went to speak when they heard Will walk into the house.

"Kyle it is great to see you awake. What happened?" Will asked.

_Gilan rode ahead of Kyle on Blaze whilst Sky slowly trotted along with Kyle. Kyle looked around, the snow had melted completely leaving the ground damp and muddy. He looked over to where Gilan was a few metres ahead of him. Like Kyle he had his cowl up to protect his face from the bitter wind and had wrapped the cloak around his body. Kyle had done the same thing but had also pulled up his collar to stop the wind getting down his back. As the wind blew the trees swayed about and creaked as they moved. Kyle looked up at the sky. It was a light miserable grey, the sought of colour the clouds are before it snows. He groaned. Gilan turned round and looked at him._

"_You alright, I heard a pretty loud groan from back there" he said smiling. Gilan's face was red from the cold._

"_Fine, just cold and it's going to snow again" Kyle said._

"_Of course it's cold if it's going to snow" Gilan said turning back to face the road in front of them. Kyle scowled. He was about to speak but closed his mouth again, he had kind of walked into that. _

"_Still, I don't like the snow very much, I prefer the summer when it is hot and sunny." Kyle looked up at the sky and let out a small sigh._

"_Sighing won't help the snow not fall" Gilan shouted over his shoulder. Kyle glared at him. "Besides if you're going to become a ranger then you need to get used to camping in the snow." _

"_I know, but I still don't like it" Kyle said. Gilan let out a small laugh but quickly covered it with a cough. Kyle glared at him even more, the one thing that he hated about being an apprentice was that he always seemed to walk into Gilan's traps._

_The snow started to fall at half nine. The small, white, cold flakes of snow fell onto the ground. Slowly the snow started to cover the ground in a thin white blanket. The trees and forest around them turned from a dark green to a bright white that seemed to glow as the moons light shone onto it. Kyle looked at Gilan. His brown and grey mottled cloak had turned into a white fluffy cloak as the snow settled on it. It looked like a snowman was riding Blaze. Kyle smiled as he imagined it. Gilan shook his body and the snow flew off in all directions. He corrected his thoughts, now Gilan looked like a dog shaking water of its coat. _

"_Thanks" Kyle said as snow hit his cold face making it sting._

"_You're welcome" was all Gilan said in reply. Kyle then did the same as Gilan, shaking all the snow off of him. The snow fell onto the ground. There was a slight vibration in the stomach of Sky and Kyle went to warn Gilan._

"_I know" Gilan whispered. He slowed Blaze's pace so that he and Kyle were riding beside each other. Kyle let Sky know that he had registered the signal. Blaze shook his mane and the snow flew everywhere. "Okay, see that tree when we get to it climb into it. It's a bit like what we did at the gathering alright." Kyle nodded his head._

"_Alright" he whispered in reply._

"_I will be quite a way away by the time they show so you will be on your own for a little bit, whistle when you found him" Gilan said. A few minutes passed and they eventually got to the tree. Kyle stood in the saddle and reached up for the branch of the tree. His hands wrapped around the branch and he pulled himself up and swung his legs over it. As soon as he climbed of Sky, Sky pushed his hooves into the ground harder so that it looked like the rider was still on his back. Kyle knelt on the branch against the trunk. He wrapped his cloak around him and pulled the cowl over his face. He waited, his nerves on edge and there was a little excitement as he got ready for his first part of his first mission. He waited and no one came. He heard a rustle in the bushes on the other side of the road. He moved his eyes over to it without moving his head and saw nothing. He remembered what Gilan had said, __**'don't keep your eye on one thing or you may miss something else.' **__He quickly looked away scanning the forest from left to right, from close up to far away. _

_Still nothing._

_He had been up the tree for a few minutes when he heard the slight sound of hoof beats clopping on the mud track. For a moment he thought it might be Gilan but then thought. Gilan would wait for him to come or when he heard fighting. He would be some way of where he was unseen but could still see. Kyle closed his eyes and concentrated on where the noise was coming from. It was from where they had come from. As he watched he saw a man riding a horse. The horse was a dark brown almost black. The horse had a black mane that flowed down its neck in knots and tangles and its tale wasn't in a much better condition. The rider sat high in the saddle. He wore brown leather armour over his body and he had a sword at his waist. Kyle waited and watched as the man slowly got closer. As the man got closer Kyle noticed that he looked evil and that there was a nasty streak inside of the guy. Kyle's hand slipped and the leaves of the tree rustled._

_The man looked up at Kyle._

_Kyle stayed stock still. __**'Trust the cloak'**__ was what Gilan always said, __**'trust the cloak and don't move. Even when you think you have been spotted'.**__ He waited and watched the man, the man did the same. Kyle could feel his heart beating and was surprised that the man couldn't hear it. The wind blew and made the leaves move. The man shrugged and moved on. Kyle let out his breath slowly and quietly. __**Thank you wind,**__ he thought with a smile. The man had mistaken the movement of his hand for the wind blowing. _

_The man passed under him and Kyle jumped from the branch landing on the back of the horse. The man jumped in surprise but quickly recovered. Kyle felt the man's head crash into his sending them both backwards onto the ground. Kyle quickly stood up and put his hand to his mouth letting out a quick sharp whistle. The man got up and drew his sword from his waist, he swung it experimentally in the air. Kyle swallowed and looked at the swordsman in front of him. _

_Suddenly the man swung the sword at Kyle's head. Kyle ducked and felt the sword brush the tips of his hair. He could feel his heart thudding in his chest again. By the time he had looked up at the man the sword was coming at his head again. He ducked and this time he only just moved in enough time for the sword to miss his forehead. He moved back fast away from the reach of the sword and quickly punched the man as he went. The man looked at him in anger._

"_Yah didn't wanna do that kid" he said in a low threatening voice. Kyle looked at the man and felt a lump in his throat. The man swung the sword again backwards and forwards trying to hit Kyle with a killing blow. Kyle just kept ducking out the way. The sword kept swinging in the same way, left, right, left, right and on the odd occasion, left, right, left, right, right, left, right. Kyle ducked a couple more times making sure that the pattern was locked in his head. _

_He drew his Saxe._

"_Yah don't actually think that that puny thing will harm me, do yah?" the man asked in a mocking tone. "It wouldn't even make a scratch on my sword; I could cut it clean in half."_

"_It's stronger than you think," Kyle said in a knowing voice. "Besides it's just not about the weapon, it's also about the skill of the man behind it that counts. That's how I know I will live to see a new day." Kyle wasn't sure if he agreed with what he said. This man would have trained for more than a few months with a sword. The man glared at him in anger and started his pattern of sword movements again. __**At least he's repetitive**__ Kyle thought. Kyle blocked one of the strokes and felt it jar his arm. The bandit looked at Kyle's knife in confusion but quickly composed himself and swung the sword again. Kyle ducked under the sword and stood up almost immediately. As the sword came at his head again Kyle stepped forward grabbing the man's arm. Kyle kneed the man in the stomach and pulled the Saxe across the man's hand. The bandit dropped the sword and pulled his hand to his chest, blood was dripping down his hand and arm, getting over his top._

_Kyle kicked the sword away from them. The man was unarmed but not for long. The man picked up a thick branch and swung it at Kyle's stomach whilst he was distracted. Kyle felt the impact of the branch hit his stomach and all the air was pushed out of him. There was a loud snap. Kyle looked up and saw the man standing over him. Kyle heard a familiar sound, then a thump and then a scream as the man fell to the floor in pain. There was an arrow sticking out of the man's leg, which was being held. Gilan came riding over and jumped of Blaze. Kyle quickly felt his chest and stomach to see if he had any broken ribs. He didn't, luckily._

"_You took your time!" Kyle said to Gilan as he walked over._

"_I was watching you, I was going to step in when things got out of hand." Kyle looked at him, "Are you alright?" Gilan asked as he put thumb and toe cuffs on the man that had gone unconscious with pain. Kyle gagged slightly as the smell of the man's feet reached him. Gilan moved away quickly._

"_I'm fine" Kyle said, rubbing his stomach. Gilan raised an eyebrow as he saw Kyle do this. "It's just sore. There are no broken ribs or anything." _

_They both rode through the forest. Gilan had the still unconscious bandit on the back of his horse and Kyle rode behind him to make sure the guy didn't try to escape. They rode off the side of the road by about three metres so that they were not seen but could still see anyone on the road. Gilan pulled the man off Blaze and put him against a tree, which he was then tied to with rope. If he somehow escaped the cuffs he would now have to escape a tree as well. Kyle threw the man's weapons on the floor in a pile. The weapons weren't the best weapons in the world. They were shoddily built and probably only cost a few coins. The weapons were sharp but that was the only good thing about them. Kyle picked up the sword. There was a big chip in the side. Kyle smiled. "What are you smiling at?" Gilan asked._

"_Nothing it's just I didn't expect the Saxe knife was strong enough to do this." He passed the sword to Gilan. _

"_Well they are made by the best blacksmiths in Araluen" Gilan said. _

"_What do we do now?" Kyle asked._

"_You can go get fire wood and I will keep an eye on our friend here." Kyle went and got his bow and quiver off Sky and then went to find some kindling._

_He got back half an hour later. The small clearing they had found was starting to get dark. He walked over to the centre of the clearing and dropped the bundle of wood he had collected. He then started to make a fire. Once the fire was lit Kyle noticed that their 'friend' had woken up and was looking away from Gilan in fear. Gilan sat against a tree opposite of the man. He had his sword out and was sharpening it. He said nothing but every now and then looked at the man and a slight smile touched his lips. Kyle knew that this was all an act to scare the man but the man knew nothing. All he knew was that he was tied to a tree with very dangerous man in front of him. Three quarters on an hour passed and Kyle looked up from the fire._

"_Do you want some food?" Kyle asked not thinking to direct the question to Gilan._

"_That would be great, make sure you… have some" Gilan said. There was an evil smile on his face as he said this. He had made it so that their captive thought he would get something to eat and from the look on the man's face he had thought that as well. Kyle handed Gilan a bowl of the soup he had made. There was steam rising from the mixture in the bowl and the aroma in the clearing made Kyle's mouth water. He quickly poured some into a bowl for himself and tried it. The meat was tender and seemed to melt in his mouth. It was the best food he had made so far in his ranger training. _

_Time passed and with every minute the clearing got darker, until it was only the fire that lit the clearing. Gilan stood up from his position against the tree and stretched. He then walked over to the man and sat in front of him. His nose twitched as the stench of the man's feet hit him. He looked at the man with cold eyes and for a few seconds the man stared back, until he cowered away and looked down. "So what's your name?" Gilan asked. As Gilan suspected the man didn't answer. "Look it would be far easier for me and my friend" Gilan nodded his head in the direction of Kyle, "to sleep at night if you answered. I tend to struggle after a night of one man screaming in pain." The man didn't answer but Kyle could tell he was scared. The man quickly covered up his fear._

"_If you untie me I will tell you" he said. Gilan thought about it and the man actually thought Gilan might untie him._

"_You are in __**no**__ position to be giving out the orders" Gilan said with emphasise on the 'no'. "Or did you not notice you are the one tied to a tree" Gilan said looking at the rope. The man looked down._

"_I did, which is why I asked you to untie me" the man said rather cockily. Gilan moved closer to the man so that their heads were only a centimetre apart. The man's breathe smelt of stale alcohol._

"_Look here, you best stop answering me back" Gilan said in a low whisper. "I can tell you don't know who I am, I am a king's ranger and you are my prisoner. So you best start answering me." The man let out a strangled scream as the arrow in his leg was pulled out. _

"_Edmund, my name is Edmund Grass" the man said still in pain._

"_Good now we are getting somewhere" _

"_What were you doing following us?" Gilan asked his voice still dangerously low. The man was quiet. "Kyle would you do me a favour and pass over his sword." Kyle stood up from the fire and passed Gilan the sword in confusion. Kyle looked at Gilan. The light of the fire flickered in his face making him look even scarier. Gilan took the sword and held it in front of Edmund's face. "See this," Gilan pointed to the dent in the sword. "This is what one of our knives can do to a thick, hard metal sword. Imagine what it could do to a piece of soft flesh." Gilan tapped the sword on Edmund's chest. "I imagine it would be quite painful, wouldn't you agree Kyle?"_

"_Yes, it definitely would be." Kyle stood up from the fire and sat against Sky. He closed his eyes and relaxed so that Gilan could get the information they needed from their smelly 'friend'. Thirty minutes passed and Gilan was still talking to Edmund. So far Gilan hadn't needed to cause any pain. The fire had died down leaving a small glow in the centre of the clearing. Kyle was nearly asleep when he felt a rumble in Sky's stomach. _

"_I heard" he whispered. He walked over to Gilan and whispered in his ear. "There's someone watching." Gilan had a feeling there was._

"_Go get the fire going again" he told Kyle. Kyle walked away and prodded the fire with a stick. He also blew on it. For some reason Kyle moved his head to the right. As he did he felt the air move as an arrow flew past where his head had been. He quickly ran to Sky and picked up his bow and arrows. He looked up and saw eight men coming out of the forest. He pulled an arrow from his quiver and fired it. A man fell to the floor in agony as the arrow pierced his leg. Gilan then started to fire arrows as well taking more down than Kyle. Kyle fired two more arrows and then quickly drew his Saxe knife and lunged at a man that was too close for Kyle to use his bow. He ducked again. __**This is starting to get slightly irritating**__ he thought as he ducked another swing from a sword. The man feigned a swipe of his sword and then lunged at Kyle. Kyle stepped back and just missed getting killed with the sword._

_Kyle saw the tip of an arrow protrude from the man's chest. The man then fell forward and Kyle had to quickly move out of the way to avoid being flattened._

"_RUN!" Gilan shouted as more men came from the trees. Kyle looked at Gilan. "RUN TO REDMONT, GET WILL" he shouted again. Men started to surround Gilan and more were walking towards Kyle. He sheathed his knife and picked up his bow and quiver. He ran over to Sky and climbed on him. He took one more look at Gilan and then rode through the trees. They came onto the path and several men surrounded them. Kyle went to take an arrow from his quiver when Sky kicked out with his legs at one of the men. Kyle fell backwards and rolled off the back of Sky with a grunt as his arm hit his stomach. He quickly stood up and saw another man coming towards him. This man had a knife in his hand and looked like he knew how to use it. _

_The man jabbed at Kyle and Kyle blocked with his Saxe. There was a CLANG as the knives made contact with each other. _

_As the knives made contact again the man grabbed hold of Kyle's wrist and brought the knife across Kyle's cheek. The knife sliced through Kyle's skin. His right cheek burned and he felt the warm red liquid drip down his face and neck. His shirt started to get wet and stick to his chest as it soaked up the blood. The man then hit Kyle just above his right eye with the hilt of his knife. Kyle's vision started to go black, he shook his head to clear his vision and the kicked the man as hard as he could in the stomach. The force of the kick sent both Kyle and the bandit back in opposite directions to each other. _

_They both fell and Kyle grunted again as he hit the ground. The man wasn't so lucky as to hit the grass. He fell back into Sky. Sky kicked the man with his hoof and Kyle felt like he was going to be sick when he heard the snap of bones breaking. He looked at the man on the floor who was screaming out in pain. The man's ribs had and pierced his skin. The man would bleed out and die slowly and painfully. Kyle walked over to him and smiled sadly. He then killed the man to put him out of his misery._

_Sky neighed and looked at Kyle. Kyle then climbed onto Sky's back. __**No you heard what Gilan said 'get Will' **__Sky said as Kyle looked back in the direction of Gilan. Kyle sighed and then dug his heels into Sky's sides. "Get to Redmont" he said and Sky bolted into full speed towards Redmont._

Kyle finished telling them what happened and looked away. He could feel tears stinging his eyes. He felt two pairs of arms wrap around him. He looked around and saw Arianna on the bed next to him and Alyss was on his other side hugging him too. Mark and Will stood and looked at him. Mark was angry but he also looked sad for his friend. Will looked like he was about to explode. "Don't worry, we will find Gilan" he said and then left the room. Halt needed to know. Gilan was like a son to Halt and he would want to help find him.

**So was it as good as you hoped it would and did you find out everything you needed to know on what happened to Kyle and Gilan. Actually you don't know everything that happened to Gilan, you don't know if he is even alive and I'm going to be evil and not say. You will have to read on to find out. Again I really apologise for the long wait. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed and like always review, favourite and follow. Again if you have any ideas for future chapters let me know and I might use them. Goodbye. **


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